a detailed step by step thread of what to expect/do for anxiety ridden bitches like me who don't even want to look at the emails about the UCSD data breach (source: i did it all in one hour today!)

1.) sign up for your free credit monitoring and identity theft protection through experian. this will let you surveil your information on the web and monitor your credit. the link and code are at this website: http://adminrecords.ucsd.edu/Notices/2021/2021-4-2-2.html

1.) this step took me about 30 minutes. some information to have handy is your ssn, debit and credit cards, bank account info, drivers license, passport, and medical id. you don't need to do all of these, the big ones are the first three.

2.) turn on all your alerts for your bank and monitor for any fraudulent transactions. you should already be checking your monthly statements for this anyways so good practice

3.) this next step took me 30 minutes total over the phone. you can do it online and info is in the link above but i did it through the phone because its less nerve racking to have someone just ask you questions or have an automated robot do it for you.

3.) so yes, freeze and/or place fraud alerts on your credit file. i did credit freeze since i don't access my credit that often, look it up if you want to know the diff. the three places you have to call are equifax, transunion, and experian. info for that in next tweet

3.) Equifax
http://Equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services
800-685-1111

Experian
http://Experian.com/help 
888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)

Transunion
http://TransUnion.com/credit-help 
888-909-8872

4.) file your taxes if you haven't already to avoid someone fraudulently doing it for you

5.) breathe, i know this is scary but taking these steps can be the thing between an even scarier situation. this is not as catastrophic as it seems if you take the right steps. feel free to correct me/add if you have anything else