By Jessica Robinson via Iris.xyz It has happened again. This time 143 million people have been impacted by this cyber breach. Why is this breach more confusing than the other data breaches and what does that mean for you? With the Home Depot breach, the information compromised was our credit card information allowing for fraud. With Yahoo, the information compromised were your email, passwords, and contents in your email allowing for scams, fraud and phishing. With the Equifax breach, large amounts of PII (personally identifiable information) including date of birth, social security number, home address, and phone number have been exposed. It’s possible cyber thieves can open lines of credit, bank accounts, get a driver’s license and new credit cards in your name. Identity theft can come in multiple forms from thieves being able to cash your personal checks or pick up medical prescriptions. Recovering from identity theft can take months or even years. Equifax also has not been very forth coming regarding the details of the breach and has folded under public pressure over the weekend, and Monday to do more for consumers, leading to misinformation and increasing confusion for consumers. Here are the facts on how to protect yourself with the Equifax breach: 1. Sign up for 1-year free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance with Equifax. Click here to read the full story on Iris.xyz. Read more on ETFtrends.com