Critics say Equifax offer after data breach doesn't go far enough

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Equifax announced Thursday it would offer everyone a free lifelong tool for locking their credit reports. Consumer groups welcomed the news, but say that is not enough.

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Activists want access to free credit reports -as many as you want- and they want free credit locking for all three major credit reporting bureaus, and that is just a start.

When personal and private information was stolen from a Equifax, Bay Area consumers like Tom Radulovich, reacted fast.

"I think we all looked at that website and checked our credit. I talked to my coworkers about it too and said, 'Just so you know you should be aware of this,'" Tom Radulovich said.

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Matt Schulz, is a senior industry analyst at credit cards.com. He says we should all follow Tom's lead.

"The first thing people should do is get their credit report from all three bureaus and check your online bank statement, your online credit card statement to make sure that nothing unusual is on there right now," Schulz said.

Matt is backed up on that by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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"Harms from data breaches can take years to manifest themselves," Amul Kalia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said. "There are very little incentive for these companies to keep our data secure at this time that's why you have these breaches happening constantly."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation says we need to make it easier for consumers to sue by setting up something like a lemon law for data.

"They need to come up with an idea or a way for the victims of these data breaches to be compensated," Kalia said. And, to make it easier to lock down your credit reports.