It is important to remember that we have no evidence that this employee data has been accessed or misused. However, as a precautionary step U.S. employees may wish to contact the three credit reporting agencies to place a free fraud alert on their credit files. See the Q & A below on “Fraud Alert” for details. Please note: Enrolling for a fraud alert will require you to submit personal information, such as your social security number and other personal data.

The deadline to enroll for the complementary Equifax Credit Watch Gold service has passed. If you wish to enroll at your own expense, please visit the Equifax website at www.equifax.com. Any further questions or issues regarding the missing data tapes should be directed to employeesecurityquestions@timewarner.com.

With respect to non-U.S. citizens who work for Time Warner outside the U.S., there was no information comparable to a Social Security number on the missing tapes.

Once you've taken the precautions of placing a fraud alert and requesting a credit report, watch for signs that your information is being misused. For example, you may not get certain bills or other mail on time. Follow up with creditors if your bills don't arrive on time. A missing bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your account and changed your billing address to cover his tracks. Other signs include:

Continue to read your financial account statements promptly and carefully, and to monitor your credit reports every few months in the first year of the theft, and once a year thereafter.

If you observe suspicious activity, contact your creditors immediately. Ask to speak to someone in the security or fraud department, and follow up in writing. If you discover a changed billing address on an existing credit card account, close the account. When you open a new account ask that a password be used before any inquiries or changes can be made on the account. When selecting a password or Personal Identification Number (PIN), avoid using easily available information like your birth date.

Please send us an email at employeesecurityquestions@timewarner.com.

You may want to take the precaution of placing a fraud alert on your credit files. The law allows you to place an initial fraud alert on your credit file free of charge for an initial period of 90 days. This notification alerts creditors to use additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name.

To place a fraud alert on your credit file, please contact the toll-free number of any one of the three major credit reporting companies. They can be reached at:

Equifax:
1-800-525-6285

Experian:
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)

TransUnion:
1-800-680-7289

A fraud alert is an alert that the three major credit reporting companies attach to your credit file. When you, or someone else, attempt to open a credit account the lender should contact you by phone to verify that you want to open the new account. If you cannot be reached by phone, the credit account should not be opened. However, a creditor is not required by law to contact you if you have fraud alert in place. Fraud alerts can legally be ignored by creditors.

After you place fraud alert, an alert will be placed on your credit file with all three major credit reporting companies within 24 hours. The three credit reporting companies work together so that when you request an alert through one of the agencies, your alert request is sent to the other two agencies automatically. All three agencies will also remove your name from all pre-approved credit card and insurance offer lists for two years.

Each of the credit reporting companies will send you a current copy of your credit report by mail. The reports should arrive in one to two weeks. Once you get your reports, review them for suspicious activity, like inquiries from companies you didn't contact, accounts you didn't open, and debts on your accounts that you can't explain. Check that information — like your SSN, address(es), name or initials, and employers — is correct.

A potential drawback to activating a fraud alert would occur when you attempt to open a new account. You would need to be available at either your work phone number or home phone number in order to approve opening the new credit account. If you are not available at either of those numbers, the creditor may not open the account. In addition, it may take longer to obtain credit and in some cases merchants may be hesitant to open a new account.

Fraud alerts will not necessarily prevent someone else from opening an account in your name. A creditor is not required by law to contact you if you have a fraud alert in place. Fraud alerts can legally be ignored by creditors. If you suspect that you are or have already been a victim of identity theft, fraud alerts are only a small part of protecting your credit. You also need to pay close attention to your credit report to make sure that the only credit inquiries or new credit accounts in your file are yours.

No, placing a fraud alert does not damage your credit. However, a potential drawback to activating a fraud alert would occur when you attempt to open a new account. You would need to be available at either your work phone number or home phone number in order to approve opening the new credit account. If you are not available at either of those numbers, the creditor may not open the account. In addition, it may take longer to obtain credit and in some cases merchants may be hesitant to open a new account.

Under the credit agencies' policies, each individual must initiate the action. This is a protection for all individuals who the credit agencies maintain records on. Time Warner is not authorized to initiate this action regarding your credit, nor can we determine irregularities in your credit history.

An initial fraud alert lasts 90 days. You can remove an alert by calling the credit bureaus at the phone number given on your credit report. If you want to reinstate the alert, you can do so.

All three major credit reporting agencies use an automated phone system for setting up the fraud alert and are not generally set up to take down fraud alert requests "live." Credit agencies will need to verify identity which may require use of SSN and other similar information.

If you prefer to mail your request to the credit bureaus, the addresses are below.

TransUnion
Fraud Victim Assistance Department
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834

Equifax Credit Information Services
Consumer Fraud Division
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374

Experian
Experian’s National Consumer Assistance
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013

The missing tapes contained company data including names and U.S. Social Security numbers of: current and former U.S.-based employees of Time Warner and its current and former affiliates (and U.S. citizens working for the company abroad); some of their dependents and beneficiaries; and certain other individuals who have provided services to the company.

With respect to non-U.S. citizens who work for Time Warner outside the U.S., there was no information comparable to a Social Security number on the missing tapes.

For security reasons and to ensure that we do not hamper the ongoing investigation, we cannot discuss in further detail what information might be on the tapes.

As part of our regular processes to protect our computerized data, Time Warner has used a leading data storage firm to ship and store our computer back-up tapes offsite for several years. The data is sent offsite for backup and storage so that in the event our servers fail, we will be able to retrieve and restore the lost data. This practice is standard for many Fortune 500 companies.

As you may be aware, there are a significant number of individuals who may be affected and we are trying to provide information in the most efficient and informative manner to all. Many employees have the same questions as you. Where we have anticipated questions, we have included them in the Q & A that are posted on the websites. We have also set up an email box at employeesecurityquestions@timewarner.com to answer employee questions and record any new questions so that we can add them to the Q & A on our websites.