COLUMBUS, Ohio — The City of Columbus is now offering up to two years of free Experian credit monitoring to residents and city employees who have been impacted by the cyberattack, which includes $1 million of protection against fraud and identity theft.

What You Need To Know

  • Columbus is now offering free Experian credit monitoring for people who shared their personal information to the city's government or municipal court 

  • The free credit monitoring service is meant to protect anyone who is impacted by the cyberattack

  • To sign up for the free Experian credit monitoring services, click here, or call 1-833-918-5161 with the code B129833 by Nov. 29

A Columbus resident, who works in IT, said the importance of credit monitoring and keeping your online information safe. 

“Just felt like it was important for myself and talking to some of my close family members to protect yourselves as best as you can and protect your information,” said Columbus resident Chad Ivery. 

Ivery, born and raised in Columbus, is no stranger to the importance of keeping your information safe online. As an IT specialist for the Ohio attorney general’s office, he knows exactly what it takes to monitor your credit.

“Experian is one that's really been out there that lets you create your account. You can go in, and you could freeze your credit, which would minimize your risk of your information being compromised and somebody applying for credit in your name,” said Ivery. 

Ivery said the process is easy and anyone can do it. 

“Once I saw that, you know, you could do that, it was free. It wasn't very difficult to sign up for an account and get that frozen. They make (it) really, really simple to go in and do that. And like I said, they do that on all those different sites. So I felt like it was something that, you know, I wanted to do and I encourage my family members to do also,” said Ivery.

According to city officials, Columbus’ IT department identified the threat and took action to significantly limit potential exposure. But with the problem still lingering more than four weeks later, the city decided to offer the free credit monitoring to help protect anyone who’s shared their personal information with city’s government or municipal court.

As for Ivery, he’s been using free credit monitoring services for years because of national data breaches. And he’s glad Columbus is bringing more attention to it. 

“And because they have the tools readily available, I feel like it's important for people to take that extra step of precaution just to make sure that nothing's happening. With your information,” said Ivery. 

To sign up for the free Experian credit monitoring services, click here, or call 1-833-918-5161 with the code B129833 by Nov. 29.