Do you have home security system? What about identity protection? Nowadays, they can steal from you without even breaking into your house. I going to cover identity theft, identity protection, and what’s coming in the near future, digital ID.
Ways Identity Stolen
- There are various ways that our identity could be stolen. some of you may have unfortunately been a victim of one of these thefts:
- They can make purchases on your debit/credit card.
- They can by a car or house in your name.
- How about tax fraud – they can collect your tax refund
- They steal sec security checks or re-direct your direct deposit
- Employment fraud – people get jobs in other people’s names
- Your info can be sold on the dark web.
In addition, data hacking is on the rise. The # of data breaches were up over 33% in 2019. There were over 5,000 data breaches that exposed almost 8 billion records. They said it was the worst year on record. This was mostly in areas of medical services, retailers and public entities.
This data breach impacts: Passport numbers, medical records, bank account details, social media credentials, Social Security numbers
Large Data Breaches
In 2019, here were a few big name companies that their data was breached because they had “unsecured databases” based on article from CNET.
1- Large hotel chain Marriott – 383 million guests data were breached (the data was passport info, credit card info)
That’s more than double of the breach of EQUIFAX, which is one of the major consumer credit reporting agencies.
2-Social Media giant, Facebook – with 540 million data were breached. The company had users’ names, IDs and passwords out in the open on unprotected servers.
3-Large Real Estate company, First American Financial Corp. – hundreds of millions of real estate documents were breached.
4-Who uses MoviePass? 160 million of Moviepass records were left unencrypted leaving credit card info unprotected.
5-Do you play Words with Friends? 218 million accounts were breached (email addresses, names, and Login IDs.
Twitter accounts were hacked for high-profile figures, (politicians, entertainers, CEOs of big corporations). such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, rapper Kanye West. Hackers got into the accounts and posted messages asking their followers to send Bitcoin to a specific address. Some cyberattack experts think there may be a bigger attack but this is only speculation.
I just named a few of the data breaches of large companies. Our personal id, data is under attack.
So what can you do about it?
You can help safeguard your personal information with Identity Theft Protection companies.
I will cover 3 identity theft protection services: Lifeflock, IdentifyForce, and Identity Guard. They offer monitoring, alerts, and recovery.
Monitoring – Monitor your accounts and credit with credit companies. If someone opened a new account or a credit inquiry was done in your name, you would be notified.
Alerts – You would be alerted or notified if someone was attempting to open a new bank account or credit card, or if a credit inquiry was requested in your name. The quicker you are alerted to someone trying to steal your identity, you can prevent this from happening. If you receive this notification, you can notify the service that this is not you. If the person had already opened an account in your name and had done purchases in your name, the damage is already done and your credit may be damaged.
Recovery – If your information is stolen, the company will assist in recovering your lost money by offering lawyers and experts and reimbursements at various amounts. Some offer up to $1 million protection.
Lifelock
Lifelock (it’s a partner of Norton 360). It provides computer and device protection. There are 4 plans to choose from. They also offer up to $1 million identity theft recovery plan and legal assistance depending on the plan.
The 4 plans offered: Standard for $9.99/month (doesn’t include Norton 360), Select for $9.99/month, Advantage for $17.99/month, and Ultimate Plus for $25.99/month. (Please note, costs are as of December and subject to change: the first year is at lower cost and renewal fees are higher)
If your data is stolen, they offer some of the following:
Depending on the plan you choose:
- Reimbursement of your stolen money from $25,000 – $1 million
- Monitor from 1 credit bureau to all 3 credit bureaus
- Dark web monitoring and Social Security number alerts
- VPN (Virtual Private Network) creates a secure and encrypted connection to VPN server. It allows you to browse the web anonymously (hiding your location).
IdentityForce
They offer social media identity monitoring and the most expensive plan monitors the 3 credit reports and examines your credit rating and has a credit score tracker to monitor your credit score over time.
They offer 2 plans: Ultra Secure for $14.99/month and Ultra Secure + Credit for $19.99/month. Both plans offer identity theft insurance of $1 million. Only the expensive plan offers credit report monitoring. (Please note, costs are as of December and subject to change).
Identify Guard
It’s best for artificial intelligence monitoring as it uses IBM’s Watson computer system to scan the dark web, and give you safe browsing tools. They offer $1 million theft protection insurance. Also, you receive a monthly Vantage 3.0 credit score based on TransUnion data and an annual credit report with information from Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.
They offer 4 plans that are currently on sale: Value for $6.67/month, Standard+Credit Protection for $13.33/month and Ultra for $20/month. (Please note, costs are as of December and subject to change).
What to Select
Depending on type of coverage and monitoring service you want, and depending on your budget, you have options to choose from.
I personally use Lifelock and have been a member since 2017. I get mobile alerts notifying me of any credit inquiries or new accounts being open. It asks if this was me opening the account or not. Speed is important if someone is trying to use your personal data. If you got an alert of someone opening a new bank account, and it was not you, by alerting the monitoring service it was not you, the account would be stopped from opening. This is the prime reason for paying for this service.
In the times we live in where our information is in the cloud, on the internet, I recommend people consider investing in an identity theft monitoring service. Consider this as a well paid for insurance. The last thing you want to deal with is identity theft, credit damage and stolen money.
Citation:
Hodge, R. (2019, December 27). 2019 Data Breach Hall of Shame: These were the biggest data breaches of the year. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/news/2019-data-breach-hall-of-shame-these-were-the-biggest-data-breaches-of-the-year/
