The company actually offers three tiers of identity protection service. This isn't quite as good a deal as it seems, because the US Federal Trade Commission provides free annual credit reports to any American citizen. Finally, McAfee offers a Premium plan that offers everything in the Standard and Plus plans, plus bank account takeover monitoring, credit card application monitoring and sex offender monitoring which alerts you when new convicted sex offenders register in your area.
Ah, Equifax. If you already have an ID monitoring service, it may well be because of this company, which is the poster child for bad security. One of the big three credit reporting agencies, Equifax had no less than five major data breaches in , affecting nearly every American who has a credit history.
In the months that followed, we learned that things may have somehow even been worse than originally known. And the company's ham-fisted response to each data breach made matters worse: At one point, the company was directing users to a fake help site. And the site it set up to provide free credit account monitoring after the data breach was originally also vulnerable to hackers.
Heads rolled, executives left , and the company's reputation is in tatters. And yet, thanks to a tepid response from the federal government, it's unclear if anything has really changed. Equifax remains one of at least three companies -- Experian and TransUnion being the other two big ones -- that pass judgment on whether we're all credit-worthy. For better or worse, many people took advantage of Equifax's offer of a free year's membership to TrustedID, its commercial identity theft service?
But that offer -- originally available to anyone with a Social Security number -- has ended. It required that you register by Jan. We understand if you took advantage of the offer while it was free.
That said, we just can't recommend doing business with a company that has demonstrated such contempt for security protocols -- let alone customers. Any of the alternative protection services listed above would be a better option. The base prices of each service are presented below, from lowest to highest. Note that the more expensive ones almost always offer additional perks, such as more frequent credit reports from credit bureaus. These are some key things to keep in mind about the best identity theft protection and ID monitoring services.
Early detection is the key. If you're signing up for one of these protection services, it's less about preventing the initial breach and saving you from being a victim of identity theft -- that's somewhat out of your hands, unfortunately. Instead, it's about getting a heads-up as soon as possible on suspicious activity to prevent you from needing to do a credit freeze or more to stop an identity thief. Whether your credit card has charges on it you never incurred, or you suddenly discover that loan collectors are trying to collect amounts you never borrowed, thanks to thieves halfway across the country -- or thieves halfway around the world -- who opened a credit card or applied for a loan in your name, seeing the suspicious activity early on is the name of the game.
The scary fact is that these breaches can cost you a lot of money and identity theft monitoring can alert you to a problem before it becomes too big to handle. Knowing how your personal information is being used is a big step to keeping yourself safe. There are identity theft protection companies that can help you monitor your personal information, get notified if your accounts and personal information are being misused by thieves and if you should get a credit freeze, and even get you reimbursement after the fact.
None of these protection services will monitor your actual banking activity. I have long recommended a way to protect yourself from becoming a victim of most banking fraud , which is to examine all your accounts once a week. It's a bit of a pain, but just in my family, we've found numerous fraudulent activities and charges over the years. By doing this practice regularly, we've saved thousands of dollars. Consumer Reports recommends you do all your own monitoring, too.
That said, if you're not the type of person who is willing or able to take the time to do the constant due diligence necessary to protect your identity, some of these protection services can help. Read the fine print. Finally, because each of these protection services offers vastly different terms and conditions, we've included an easy link to each company's terms of service. Be sure to take the time to read all of their fine print before you sign up for another monthly or yearly fee. If you subscribe to only one CNET newsletter, this is it.
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David Gewirtz. Jump to details. Identity Guard. ID Watchdog. We researched the most common features these services offer and the most prevalent types of identity theft, and we considered advice from the Federal Trade Commission as well as a former identity thief.
Most often, identity theft encompasses any type of fraud involving someone impersonating someone else, usually as a way to get money. Over the past year, the most common forms of identity theft reported to the FTC include credit card fraud, benefits fraud, loan or lease fraud, and tax-related fraud.
Although there are many ways for identity theft to play out, an understanding of these common types of fraud makes for a good overview:. Plenty of other forms of ID theft exist, including social media takeovers accessing your social media account to impersonate you or sell your username , phone and utilities fraud opening accounts in your name , criminal identity committing crimes under your name , medical fraud in which a thief gets medical treatment on your health insurance , and more.
Thieves might hunt for existing credentials using techniques like phone scams when someone calls and tricks you into revealing credit card numbers or personal information and phishing sending you links, usually over email or text message, deceiving you into sharing sensitive information such as a password or credit card number. Or they might buy personal data from illegal marketplaces. To spin up a new account in your name, a thief may buy your data from illegal marketplaces on the dark web—a part of the internet not indexed by search engines that requires special software to access.
Once an identity thief collects all this information, they can pursue their fraud of choice. This means thieves could hit you with different types of fraud at the same time or even years apart using the same set of data. Less commonly, a thief might target you specifically, using all the available tools to get into your accounts, including spear-phishing emails a technique that employs the same techniques as phishing but is targeted at an individual , SIM swapping , vishing , spyware , and more.
A credit report includes any legal judgment against you that involves paying back debt, including liens and bankruptcies, a new loan or credit account opened in your name, a debt collector looking for a payment, and changes to your name, address, or phone number.
Payday loans do not always show up on credit reports because payday lenders do not check your credit. Some identity theft protection services may also monitor credit by using the services of a private fraud-alert company. In order to prevent you from receiving a credit card or bank notice, a thief may attempt to change your address so that your mail is forwarded to them. But banks will notify you if your address on file changes, and the USPS will mail you a change-of-address notification to confirm any new address before forwarding mail.
The courts are likely to find you if they need to. Some services claim to monitor the sex-offender database for your information, implying that an offender may steal your identity and then commit and be convicted of a sex crime under your name. You can also search the government database yourself. A few dark-web search tools for businesses can be useful in monitoring these spaces, but the effort is less likely to be effective for an individual.
Unless you have a lot of credit cards with a lot of different banks, this task is probably easy enough to do on your own.
Some banks even allow you to handle it in their mobile app or on their website. Identity theft insurance sounds useful, but when you read the fine print you typically find that it covers only those expenses you incur in cancelling those fraud accounts or in litigation—like the price of sending a fax, a notary, or filing paperwork—not the money lost.
However, most banks offer such a thing, as well. An identity theft protection service can only be as useful as the databases it checks, and even then it always has holes in its coverage.
You might have already noticed a trend with the features these services do offer: None of them protect against identity theft. Although these companies often call themselves identity theft protection services, they only monitor for identity theft that has already happened.
Monitoring your accounts certainly helps, and the quicker you catch fraud, the quicker you can reverse the adverse effects. But no service or do-it-yourself approach can completely prevent identity theft.
We will cover you for personal expenses incurred as a result of identity theft, up to the limits of your plan. If your money is stolen due to ID theft, we will reimburse up to the amount provided by your plan. If you become a victim of identity theft while a LifeLock member, we will provide the necessary lawyers and experts if needed to help resolve your case.
Policy terms, conditions and exclusions at: LifeLock. These days, identity theft protection strategies and tools are important ways to help protect your Social Security number and other personal information. A stolen identity can cost you money and time as you may have to hire professionals and work with credit bureaus to clear your good name. Identity thieves can use your information to open fraudulent credit card accounts that can show up on your credit report and hurt your credit score.
By just monitoring your credit , you could miss certain identity threats. And if you are a victim, our ID protection helps with identity restoration and even lost wallet coverage. No one can prevent all cybercrime or prevent all identity theft. If a Norton expert is unable to remove the virus from your device, then you may receive a refund based on the actual price paid for the current term of your qualifying subscription.
Any refund will be net of any discounts or refunds received and less any shipping, handling and applicable taxes, except in certain states and countries where shipping, handling and taxes are refundable. The refund does not apply to any damages incurred as a result of viruses. See Norton. Any credit monitoring from Experian and TransUnion will take several days to begin after your successful plan enrollment.
Locking or Unlocking does not affect your credit file and does not stop all companies and agencies from pulling your credit file. The credit lock on your TransUnion credit file and the Payday Loan Lock will be unlocked if your subscription is downgraded or canceled. Although it is very extensive, our network does not cover all transactions at all businesses, so you might not receive a LifeLock alert in every single case.
Reimbursement does not apply to identity theft loss resulting, directly or indirectly, from phishing or scams. Device Security Not all features are available on all platforms. Some protection features are not available in Windows 8 Start screen browsers. Norton Family and Norton Parental Control features are not supported. Must have Google Play app installed. Norton Secure VPN may be used on the specified number of devices — with unlimited use during the subscription term.
Global Privacy Statement Legal. Protection for who and what matters. Identity theft protection plans to fit your needs. Speak to a live agent See Plans.
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