ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — Less than a year ago, some 170 million Americans had their information stolen in security breach.

The information goes up for sale on the Dark Web and the No. 1 risk is one of those bad guys opening a credit card account in their name.

You may have heard about freezing your credit. How do you do that and are there any drawbacks?

Freezing your credit means no one can open a credit card account or buy a car or house using your name and social security information.

Freezing credit is fairly simple. You’ll need to submit the request with all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You’ll need to sign up for an account with those companies and you can do all that on their websites. These sites will also search for your information online and remove it for a fee.

Once credit is frozen, you won’t be able to apply for new credit. If, at some point, you want to apply for a new credit card, buy a car, or a house, you’ll need to unfreeze, or temporarily thaw your credit until the loan approval goes through. Then freeze your credit again.

If you have a credit card, if you pay your taxes, if you do business with any company that keeps your social security number on their servers., you’re at risk of identity theft. Freezing your credit, while it may seem drastic and take a few steps, is the best way to prevent becoming a victim. It’s strongly encouraged to freeze your child’s credit as well.

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