If you use the Robinhood app for investing, you may want to take action to protect yourself from fraud. A recent data breach has led to about 7 million Robinhood users having their personal data exposed.

The data breach occurred on November 3, 2021. It revealed the email addresses of about 5 million Robinhood users and the full names of about 2 million users.

A smaller number of people, about 310, had their name, date of birth and zip code exposed. And about 10 people had “extensive account details revealed,” according to the company. Robinhood plans to reach out to the impacted individuals.

Robinhood’s investigation showed that no bank account details, debit card numbers or Social Security numbers were exposed during the breach.

How to Protect Yourself After a Data Breach

If you think your data may have been impacted by the Robinhood breach, or if you are impacted by a different data breach in the future, protecting yourself is important.

After a data breach, freezing your credit report is a good first step. Putting a freeze on your credit reports blocks fraudsters from the ability to use your personal information to apply for a loan or credit line, because lenders are unable to check your credit to approve an application.

Remember, you will need to put freezes on all three major credit agencies— Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. And if you need to apply for a loan during a freeze, you’ll need to lift the freeze, as a credit freeze remains in effect until it is lifted.

Alternatively, you can put a fraud alert on your credit accounts. This is a short-term action that will last for one year. With a fraud alert on your credit account, lenders will contact you if an application is used with your credit information. This allows you to verify that the request was made by you and not a fraudster.

Fraud alerts are free to do. You can place a fraud alert with one credit agency, as they are obligated to share the alert with the other two agencies.

Last, credit monitoring services can help monitor your accounts and alert you to potential fraud. Some of these programs even offer identity protection options that help you recover money if you are a victim of fraud.