Lock Your Social Security Number. Do it now.

On YouTube, etc. many creators advertise for paid monthly services to notify you when they detect that your identity information has been stolen and offered on the Dark Web.

That's like having a neighbor who tells you "your house is on fire" when you pull up to your burning house. The damage is already done.

You can be more proactive.

One reason criminals want Social Security Numbers is to prove eligibility to work in the US. That's why the US government requires employers to use their the "E-Verify" website to validate Social Security Numbers of employees within 3 days of employment. That's why employees fill out "I-9" forms.

You can cause E-Verify validations of your Social Security number to fail by locking it on the website. That's so even if someone has your Social Security number, they can't abuse it.

Here are the steps:

1. Create an account at https://myeverify.uscis.gov (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) website using an email account that you have never used for social media.
2. Preferably, create an email address different from the one you use for social media.
3. Use a reliable way to store physical and digital secrets securely. Store your USCIS user name and password and recovery words there. I prefer KeePassXC because it runs locally. I backup its database to a USB chip I store in my fire-proof safe.
4. Select the use of an authorization app on your mobile phone. I prefer Authy because it stores your accounts so that you can switch to a new phone without resetting every account.
5. Scroll down to "Self Lock" and click "Manage my SSN".
6. Scroll down to "Self Check" and click "Verify with Self Check".
7. Now you need to remember to unlock before you start work, or it won't be a good look for you.