I'm affected, my Mom is not.  No, I won't be enrolling.

Affected here as well. One thing you can do is put in for a credit freeze. Once a freeze is in place, no one (including you) can open a new line of credit unless you provide the pin to unlock it. When you do provide the pin, you can specify who the information should be provided to. Beware it might cost you a few bucks (for three of the companies it was $10 each, one provided the freeze for free), but it can go a long way to prevent someone from opening any new accounts in your name.
 
One other thing - if you have children, check their credit ratings. As all kids now have to have a SSN by the time they are 1 year old, they are prime candidates to have fraudulent accounts opened in their name. After all, who checks the credit report of a 6-year old!?! Sometimes these fraudulent accounts aren't found until the kid is getting ready for college, and their credit is ruined before they ever get started.
 
Also, a couple more things to show how 'nice' Equifax is

1. The website www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/, which Equifax created to notify people of the breach, is highly problematic for a variety of reasons. It runs on a stock installation WordPress, a content management system that doesn't provide the enterprise-grade security required for a site that asks people to provide their last name and all but three digits of their Social Security number. The TLS certificate doesn't perform proper revocation checks. Worse still, the domain name isn't registered to Equifax, and its format looks like precisely the kind of thing a criminal operation might use to steal people's details. It's no surprise that Cisco-owned Open DNS was blocking access to the site and warning it was a suspected phishing threat.
   https://arstechnica.com/information-...nal-info-ever/
2. If your credit is compromised, Equifax will not help you straighten it out. "We do not offer, provide, or furnish any products, or any advice, counseling, or assistance, for the express or implied purpose of improving your credit record, credit history, or credit rating," the company in its 7,200-word terms and conditions. "By this we mean that we do not claim we can 'clean up' or 'improve' your credit record, credit history, or credit rating."
   http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/08/tech...ces/index.html

And in the end, you simply have no choice but to continue to use these companies. If you want a car, a house, a loan of any type, you have to submit your information to them.   
 

MandolinPicker
And in the end, you simply have no choice but to continue to use these companies. If you want a car, a house, a loan of any type, you have to submit your information to them.   
 

You don't have to do anything. The problem is that they created a system that in the modern world is beyond idiotic - it relies on a "secret" SSN that you are basically forced to give to any number of people and then they make it mostly your problem if this "secret" number (along with a few other pieces of not exactly secure info) gets out and is misused.
 
The obvious solution is actually quite simple - the government just needs to publish everyone's SSN publicly immediately so that none of these idiots will continue to pretend that it's somehow a secure identifier. That would force them into doing what they need to do - setting up a much more secure system for establishing identity that doesn't rely on a "secret" number that we've basically all given to every workplace, financial company, medical facility, school and all kinds of other places over the years.

I want them to increase my Credit Score by 173 points.

When Social Security was first introduced, a lot of people were suspicious that it was a government plot to institute a universal identity card. So the cards used to say right on them "not for purposes of identification". They don't say that anymore.

The down side is "you" don't use reporting agencies. Banking and credit institutions report you activity to them. So whether you like it or not they have your information.
 

bitflipper
It's fraudulent and you can go to prison for it (see Martha Stewart).

On the bright side (), because her actions were so highly publicized, Martha Stewart's stock tripled in 6 months of her incarceration. Prudent investors who bought into it at the start came out on top. Can't see that happening here. 
 

auto_da_fe
This internet thing is going to be the end of us.

 
You have no idea!

bitflipper
When Social Security was first introduced, a lot of people were suspicious that it was a government plot to institute a universal identity card. So the cards used to say right on them "not for purposes of identification". They don't say that anymore.

No, actually it was a government plot to institute an illegal multi-level pyramid scheme that benefits the early adopters and screws the later generations (like mine).  I've paid a ton in and, it's a good bet, there won't be anything left when I hit their so-called (and moving target) retirement age.
 
[conspiracy rant]
Almost makes me wonder if it wasn't someone in our own government that hacked Equifax so they can use the information against us...
[/conspiracy rant]

craigb
[conspiracy rant]
Almost makes me wonder if it wasn't someone in our own government that hacked Equifax so they can use the information against us...
[/conspiracy rant]

They don't need to hack Equifax - they already got all that info and more at the NSA!!

Maybe I should ask the NSA for my credit score now? 

craigb
Maybe I should ask the NSA for my credit score now? 

They already know you want it.