With an increasing reliance on technology, protecting your identity is harder than ever. Hackers and sophisticated cybercriminals have been able to repeatedly access private data. Most recently, the major credit reporting agency Equifax saw a security breach that affected over 145 million people.

In response to these high-profile data breaches, credit-monitoring site Credit Karma announced the launch of a free identity protection service.

“Credit Karma can now alert you as soon as possible if you’ve been affected by a data breach and provide next steps you can consider to help secure your information,” said Adam Boender, product manager, in a blog post. “If you are involved in a breach, the sooner you know and can take action, the better.”

Regardless if you were affected by the Equifax data breach, signing up for ID monitoring is a smart idea. Whether you recently lost your wallet or do a lot of online shopping, using these services can prevent serious damage to your credit.

Source: Student Loan Hero