State of Maine Data Breach
Earlier this year, a data breach occurred at Maine’s Department of Administrative and Financial Services, potentially exposing the personal data of over 1 million Mainers. Those who may have been impacted by this cyber-attack will be notified by this department. For questions regarding this incident, please call the State’s dedicated call center at (877) 618-3659 anytime 9:00am – 9:00pm Monday through Friday.
We recommend the following tips to help protect your finances, credit score and identity:
- Monitor all accounts closely – especially financial accounts and credit card statements. For convenience, check your online or mobile banking and review your credit report. Federal law allows you to get a free credit report from each of the three main credit bureaus once every twelve months.
- Secure your logins, passwords, and pins and use different passwords for all online accounts.
- Contact the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) to initiate fraud alerts and freeze your credit.
- Adding a fraud alert to your credit report will warn lenders that you may be a victim of fraud. This is an extra precaution and will let potential lenders know they should contact you before opening any new lines of credit in your name.
- You can also freeze your credit for free at each of the major credit bureaus. Freezing your credit prevents any new credit accounts from being opened in your name.
- Fill out an Identity Theft Report by visiting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s website. The FTC can help create a personal recovery plan and offer guidance on putting the plan into action.
- Remove your personal information from public sites.
- Delete old online accounts you are no longer using.
- Consider signing up for identity theft monitoring services.