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It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#2
Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could try to increase competition in the field.

I did some Googling and it didn't seem like there's an easy option.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#3
Experian reminds me of enshittification, except it never had any interest in providing actual value to the general public to betray, so started off one step further along the process in a way.

No individual in a personal capacity ever wanted to do business with Experian, like they wanted to buy an iPhone or something. You're introduced to the unpleasant fact of its existence at some point. They don't have anything you want, you're the product from the start, and you don't have to walk into their net, you're probably born in it.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#4
post #2

Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could try to increase competition in the field. I did some Googling and it didn't seem like there's an easy option.

I feel like this has to happen. They operate like a private utility company, with little to no other options.

Imagine if they were like password manager apps? We could evaluate all of them, choose what we wanted, and migrate whenever something happened.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#5
post #2

Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could try to increase competition in the field. I did some Googling and it didn't seem like there's an easy option.

Businesses report data to them. So, you'd have to avoid businesses that report to one. But, they all report to multiple.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#6
Of course, we aren’t the customers for these spying companies. But it is surprising that the total lack of security isn’t a deal-breaker for their actual customers. I mean if you can basically impersonate anybody using this service, what is the point of using it?

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#7

Of course, we aren’t the customers for these spying companies. But it is surprising that the total lack of security isn’t a deal-breaker for their actual customers. I mean if you can basically impersonate anybody using this service, what is the point of using it?

> what is the point of using it?

Plausible deniability allowing them to push as much significant risk of identity theft onto consumers instead of themselves where it should be.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#8

Of course, we aren’t the customers for these spying companies. But it is surprising that the total lack of security isn’t a deal-breaker for their actual customers. I mean if you can basically impersonate anybody using this service, what is the point of using it?

If identity theft were to get so common that the data became statistically unreliable, we would be long past the point that even Congress would feel compelled to do something about it.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#9

Of course, we aren’t the customers for these spying companies. But it is surprising that the total lack of security isn’t a deal-breaker for their actual customers. I mean if you can basically impersonate anybody using this service, what is the point of using it?

If identity theft were to get so common that the data became statistically unreliable, we would be long past the point that even Congress would feel compelled to do something about it.

You give Congress too much credit.

Re: It's still easy for anyone to become you at Experian

#10
post #2

Given there are 3 credit bureaus, is there a way to avoid having a credit score at one of the credit bureaus? I think that's a way that we as consumers could try to increase competition in the field. I did some Googling and it didn't seem like there's an easy option.

As a consumer? No

As a business? Sure, report to the ones you want to

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