Alerts

April 23, 2007
The US Department of Agriculture has announced today that over 63,000 recipients of federal farm loans have been involved in a data breach that was discovered on April 13, 2007. The individual's names, addresses and social security numbers were released to a public website by the US Census Bureau. On April 13, an Illinois farmer discovered the information and contacted the USDA. The information was removed from the public site on April 13, 2007. All of those affected will be notified starting today by certified mail and will recieve one year of free credit monitoring services.

If you are identified as one of the affected individuals, you should do the following:

• Request a credit report and place a fraud alert on your credit report.
• Take advantage of the free credit monitoring offered through the USDA.
• Review the Office of Privacy Protection fact sheets: Safeguarding Tips, What to do if it Happens to You, and Data Breach Law.