Stolen details

[HackedMyWater]

Posting here for traffic.

I have today received an email from my water company indicating that I am in the 10-15% of customers who have had their details and financial info stolen in a cyber attack. They have offered a free 12 month membership to Experian credit monitoring plus, which supposedly provides identity monitoring and helps detect possible misuse of your personal information. It also supports identification and resolution of identity theft incidents.

I’ve signed up for that using the code they gave but is there anything else I should or can do to help mitigate/reduce the risk of anything happening? How likely is it that someone is going to try and steal my identity or rack up debt/credit in my name?

Thanks

ask to have your credit frozen so no new accounts can be opened without your permission. They can be thawed for you if you need an auto loan/new credit card/etc usually with 24 hour advance notice.

Change all your passwords and set up biometrics or 2factor security for banks/paypal etc.
Check your google account etc. for security issues.

Change your email passwords regularly and use throwaway emails when signing up to stuff online.

Did you contact your water company to double check this was legit before clicking a link and inputting all your credit info?

Who do I contact for that? My bank?

Yes, I phoned and checked.

HI, you contact the credit agencies and have them do it. The first time proving who you are is the hardest, after that you can usually freeze and thaw on-line by yourself without their involvement directly. The credit watch agency can likely help you too.

When I had a credit account set up in my name, I was advised to take out a protective registration. I think it cost £20 or £30 for 2 years. This is quite a number of years ago, so not sure if it is what is still advised.