May 27
LifeLock Identity Monitoring a Fraud?
I’ve never been a big fan of LifeLock. You can easily implement most of what this identity theft protection service offers by doing it for yourself - for free (see the identity theft tool box). It appears that Ron Lieber of the New York Times is also questioning the validity of this identity monitoring service (along with many other industry experts, journalists and class action lawyers). But all services are not created equal.
In fact, there are tangible identity protection benefits delivered by many of these services. Having researched many of them, I settled on CSIdentity for my personal use because of the “engine underneath it’s hood”. Unlike LifeLock, it provides a portfolio of monitoring tools: credit reports, pay-day loan fraud detection, public records, illegal cyber-trafficking of your personally identifying information, etc. It also offers insurance in case you get hit. For $10-12 a month, it actually allows you to monitor many aspects of your identity simply by checking your email (the email you if they detect a problem). No, I don’t make money when you sign up for their service, I use it because it works.
There are rumors going around that LifeLock might be adding some of this type of detection functionality to its product. Time will tell… that is, if they survive the onslaught of bad news that comes from advertising a car for sale that, at this point in time, doesn’t actually have an engine under their very shiny hood.