If you’ve been following the news, you’ve likely seen headlines about a security incident at National Public Data (NPD) involving nonpublic personal information (NPI)—including social security numbers—across the U.S. At this time, Commonwealth and Advisor360° have not been directly impacted by this incident.

How You Can Protect Yourself

As a result of this incident, we want to remind you that you can ensure additional security of sensitive information and help prevent identify theft by taking the following steps as soon as possible:

• Bookmark this page: We encourage you to rely on this page for the latest information.

• Stay on top of alerts: Keep an eye out for notifications from NPD, your credit monitoring software (if you’re enrolled), or the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). If your data was impacted by this breach, you’ll likely hear from one of these organizations.

• Monitor, monitor, monitor: Be sure to stay on top of your financial accounts and credit reports for any unauthorized changes.
  • Enroll in a credit monitoring program if you haven’t already done so. Commonwealth partners with Identity Guard to offer you discounted subscriptions.
  • Immediately report any unexpected changes to your bank account to your financial organization.
  • Report any unauthorized changes to your credit report to the FTC at identitytheft.gov.
  • Check to see if you were affected by the breach using haveibeenpwned.com.
• Take preventative measures: Consider placing fraud alerts or credit freezes (as a last resort) with major credit bureaus to mitigate the risk of identity theft.
• Remain cybersafe: Be on the lookout for phishing attempts. If your email or other information was compromised in this breach, it can make targeted campaigns easier for cybercriminals.
• Report suspicious activity: If you encounter or suspect malicious activity, immediately report it to us and to Commonwealth’s Security Operations team. Quick reporting can help mitigate potential damage.

Commonwealth is actively monitoring this situation and will provide updates if further impact is identified.

If you’d like to learn more about the breach, you may read about it on NPD’s website. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact our office with any questions or concerns.