News about the massive Equifax data breach has been unrelenting since the credit bureau publicly disclosed its lapse at the beginning of September. It's difficult to keep up with all the company's blunders, not to mention the complicated fiscal policy and regulatory debates the incident has fueled. But weeks later, most consumers in the United States are still just trying to figure out what the whole thing means for them, and how to steel themselves against identity theft and fraud.

To this end, Equifax's interim CEO Paulino do Rego Barros Jr. (former CEO Richard F. Smith "retired" on Tuesday) published an update to consumers in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday humbling himself before Equifax's critics and announcing an additional identity protection service that the company will give consumers for life beginning in January. At this point, Equifax has at least three similar-sounding identity protection offerings as part of its breach response. But there's always that pesky question in security that has plagued the company before—do they work?

"In the event something goes wrong, which unfortunately is inevitable, companies need to respond urgently, transparently, and empathetically—none of which Equifax did," says Adam Levin, founder of the data security and privacy firm CyberScout and a former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. "So now they’re playing catch up and they’re coming up with all these options, like try this, try that."

Experts maintain that Equifax's offerings are ultimately productive, but caution that consumers need to really understand what the choices are so they can make the right defense decisions for themselves long-term.

For a Limited Time Only

Regos Barros announced in his public letter that Equifax will be extending the enrollment period for its credit monitoring and freezing services through January. Credit monitoring sends you alerts so you can catch any suspicious activity early, while credit freezes actually lock down your credit files so institutions you don't already do business with can't access your data without specific permission from you and special PIN numbers. A freeze significantly reduces the chance that a fraudster will be able to do things like take out a line of credit in your name. Personal identity security advocates have long favored freezes, but acknowledge that the measure isn't necessarily for everyone (say, someone who anticipates applying for student loans) since it is fairly rigid and restrictive.

It is worth utilizing one or both of these tools, but at the end of the free year 143 million social security numbers (not to mention other valuable data) will still have been compromised in the breach, necessitating ongoing defense. "We generally tell people that if an entity is offering a free service they should strongly consider taking advantage of it," says Eva Velasquez, president of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. "Consumers have to demand security over convenience so that businesses will respond. Just don’t be the low hanging fruit. Anything is better than nothing long term."

The free monitoring and freezes have a short timespan, perhaps because they are services Equifax wants to resume capitalizing on as quickly as possible.

Longer View

The third service Regos Barros mentioned on Wednesday, a so-called "credit lock" tool, will debut in January, and will be a more flexible option through which consumers can lock and unlock access to their credit data whenever they want. "By allowing consumers to conveniently lock and unlock their credit files and monitor their Equifax credit report, this new service will prevent new accounts from being opened without the consumer’s consent," an Equifax spokesperson told WIRED in a statement.