First 48 hours following identity theft is crucial: New report

There are any number of products and solutions that are widely recommended to help protect one's personal data online. However, the problem of what to do about its exploitation after the fact gets a little less attention.

In the aftermath of identity theft, taking immediate and decisive action is crucial to minimize damage and prevent further fraud. That might involve securing or following legal advice, such as that offered by Console & Associates, P.C., a firm that claims a track record in class actions involving data breaches.

Its founder and principal counsel (and possessor of a great name for this area of the law) Richard P. Console, Jr asserts that taking action within “the first 48 hours after discovering identity theft” are critical to potentially limiting the fall-out to the affected party.

During this time, the firm recommends precautions such as changing their passwords (ideally to better ones) to accounts of a financial or sensitive nature; enable 2-factor authentication and unusual activity notifications whenever possible and switch any automatic payments to new accounts (“to avoid missed payments and credit score damage”).

Much of that advice also applies to those looking to avoid identity theft. Console & Associates also recommends that an actual victim should also freeze their credit with all applicable major bureaus, and to make sure that they receive any replacement cards, statements or credentials in their physical mail to make sure they are not also stolen.

Finally, people in this situation are advised to document everything they have been through of the theft, fraudulent charges, all communications resulting from the breach and the time spent dealing with the same included.

One might then proceed to investigate and pursue all other avenues to resolve the loss of their resources, time and peace of mind as a result of a breach of their personal information.

That might include the use of a service to remove one's data from broker databases, the best of which for those concerned with identity theft was found to be Aura in 2025.

Its Ultimate Online Safety Suite is now available to order from Amazon.