What are the effects of using an Identity Theft resource like LifeLock?

November 16, 2016 / joemarino24 / Leave a comment

There are obvious reasons why people use LifeLock, but what are the short-term and long-term effects of using such service? Are there positive and negative impacts on people’s behavior? Are there any impacts on society created by LifeLock? Those who use LifeLock are those who want “an extra set of eyes” on their financial accounts. LifeLock gives users a sense of peace when it comes to their financial accounts because they know if there are any transactions that are out of the ordinary, LifeLock will notify them to let them know there has been suspicious activity in one of their accounts. Now this type of service might seem useless to those who regularly check their financial accounts to keep things in order, but for those who don’t regularly check their accounts, LifeLock has their back. LifeLock has not been around long enough to determine the effects of using the service, but there are studies that show the effects of being a victim of identity theft, therefore it is easy to say that LifeLock helps prevent the effects of identity theft.

Being a victim of identity theft can cause extreme stress as well as financial issues. Victims of identity theft usually not only lose money, but sometimes have their credit tampered with, which makes things like getting a loan, car or house extremely difficult. About 5% of the United States population experiences identity theft every two years. Victims usually try to act as quickly as possible, but that usually ends up with the victim becoming frantic and even more stressed. Knowing someone else has your personal information can make an individual act in a manner that they usually wouldn’t, creating the opportunity for error and mistakes. Identity thieves usually obtain other people’s information from technology like ATM machines, bank checks, driver’s licenses, and even mail. (Peters 2012) The effects listed above are just for individuals who are victims of identity theft. It is interesting to see how business are effected. Business identity theft occurs when a thief pretends to be a business, but is actually looking for an alley to access bank information and potentially clients. Essentially anyone can post an advertisement in a newspaper or yellow pages’ book, which makes it more difficult to distinguish which businesses are real, and which ones are fake. For example, myself, who has no affiliation with the company XYZ, can post an advertisement offering my services at company XYZ. Those who request my service have no idea I am not employed by XYZ, because in reality, how will they know? This happens all across the nation everyday. Scott Burnett, owner of AAA Termite & Pest Control in Tennessee worries of this frequently. He imagined imposters gaining entry into people’s homes, spreading poison or worse. “Every day we’re all wondering: Is this the day that somebody’s going to go out and do something wrong, under my name?” Burnett says. (Noguchi 2012) The easiest targets of identity theft are those who own businesses that do function anymore, the elderly, and those who are not on top of their financial accounts. LifeLock was designed to help not only these types of people, but the average Joe as well.

Equifax, a credit reporting company, believes that most identity theft is committed by family members or friends. Anything from a gambling addiction to insane debts can trigger individuals to commit identity theft. Equifax also believes that people tend to blame themselves for being a victim because they should have attempted to protect their information better. This puts victims in a different state of mind that makes them feel more vulnerable and almost “crazy” when it comes to their personal information and their financial accounts. Equifax’s website lists several ways to reduce your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft, which will eliminate the effects of becoming a victim as well.

Keep birth certificates, Social Security cards, and other personal documents in a lockbox in your home. Make sure they are put away when someone is working in your home or even if you have a roommate.

When disposing of documents, use a diagonal shredder, which makes documents harder to piece together than a traditional shredder does.

Don’t leave outgoing bills, government forms, or tax forms in a mailbox. Take them directly to the post office. Have your mail held by the post office while on vacation.

Don’t put your driver’s license number on your personal checks. Consider writing just your first initial and last name instead of your full name.

Don’t toss credit card receipts in public places.

Install anti-virus software, anti-malware software, and a firewall on your computer and keep them up-to-date. A tech-savvy identity thief can use a virus to get personal information from your computer without you even knowing.

Use unique passwords that are different for each website.

Don’t put your birthdate or other sensitive information on your social media accounts, even just the month and day. A thief can figure out the year you were born by looking at your posts.

Consider a credit monitoring and identity theft protection product, such as Equifax Complete™, which will alert you to changes in your credit file such as a newly opened account. Equifax Complete is available for the individual as well as the family (two adults and up to four minor children).

At the end of the day, no one wants to experience or be a victim of identity theft because it puts them in a situation to secure their stolen personal information that they had no idea was taken from them in the first place. Identity theft causes stress, financial issues, and businesses to possibly fail, destroying reputations and jobs. So if you want to avoid these effects and take responsibility of your personal information and financial accounts, use LifeLock!

Sources

http://auct150identitytheft.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-does-identity-theft-impact-our.html

http://www.equifax.com/assets/PSOL/15-9814_psol_emotionalToll_wp.pdf

Who uses LifeLock? And why do they use it?

October 21, 2016 / joemarino24 / Leave a comment

As stated in my previous blog post, LifeLock offers premier service in proactive identity theft protection and prevention. Ever since they opened in 2005, they are considered pioneers in the industry due to their utilization of data, science, and patented technology. According to LifeLock, 1 in 4 Americans experience identity theft at some point throughout their lives, strengthening their reasons to attract people to subscribe to their services. LifeLock now has over 4.4 million members, which may seem like a large number, but is only a fraction of the total amount of people in the United States. In 2016, according to the Insurance Information Institute, 12.7 million Americans have been victims of identity theft and cybercrime, stressing LifeLock’s reasons for their existence. The company also has over 300 enterprise clients, mainly due to their newer services offering identity theft protection and other business solutions to other companies. LifeLock offers business solutions similar to the standard membership, but also include breach solutions, employee benefits, and financial services. LifeLock does not publish their subscribers to the general public, but based on recent lawsuits and news pieces regarding the company, it seems that the company fluctuates in monthly users. LifeLock states they have over 4.4 million users, however, LifeLock has paid customers millions of dollars due to unhappy customers saying LifeLock tricked them into their services. (BNA) This can only lead me to believe those customers have terminated their membership and sought other identity theft protection services. When LifeLock first opened in 2005, the company had less than 700 employees and minimal funding. Due to these factors, LifeLock was not able to offer as much as they do now, as well as only being able to support a small amount of clients. Soon after their entry into the industry, LifeLock was able to raise over $15 million to invest in their company and support many more clients than they were able to. In 2005, only 6.6 million Americans experienced some sort of identity theft, only half of what is committed in 2016. This being said, I do not think that LifeLock has hit its critical mass yet. I do think it has the potential to do so, however. Cyberterrorism and identity thefts are becoming more prevalent in our society, and it is important that there are options to help Americans avoid such actions being committed against them. I also think LifeLock has a great position in the industry to succeed and become the primary resource for identity theft protection. LifeLock is publicly traded on the markets, and has been around longer than most identity theft services.

Regardless of the lawsuits LifeLock has been apart of in recent years, Consumer Affairs has over 2,000 reviews on the services LifeLock provides, with an overall rating of 4.5/5 stars. Most reviews are based on the customer service they received, which was extremely positive. That being said, there were other reviews that had very negative reviews on the company’s services. The services are seen to be liked and accepted by most of their subscribers, but how much longer will LifeLock be around? What separates LifeLock from the average bank and their services now? Banks do not offer any of the services LifeLock offers, but they have incorporated services similar to LifeLock to their everyday operations. As stated in my previous post, LifeLock really only notifies you when there is suspicious activity in your account, they don’t really do anything about it. Banks have now created apps for mobile banking that track your accounts 24/7. For example, Chase Bank has an app that allows me to control all of my accounts at extreme ease. Chase knows I live in New York, so when they see foreign or distant charges they don’t expect me to make, they notify me almost immediately with the information I need to know in order to make appropriate changes. Mobile banking apps also have alert settings that alert the user anytime their card is used in a purchase, even if it was them who made the purchase, just to be safe. Now that it is 2016 and more than half of the country uses smartphones, these mobile banking apps are becoming more and more popular. Not only because of the services they offer, but the reliability of the services offered. Another service LifeLock offers includes a Wallet feature. LifeLock Wallet is an app that holds a digital copy of all your debit and credit cards. The app was made to create efficiency when watching the activity of your cards. After the app turned out to be not as successful as they thought, the app was incorporate into the official LifeLock app. This type of service is similar to that of the iPhone’s Apple Pay. Digital wallets are becoming extremely popular during this digital tech era. It is so popular that several companies are trying to win the popularity contest, yet there has been no winner yet. (Gallup) Gallup also states that only 38% of users who have digital wallets that also have identity theft services find the technology having benefits. The technology is still new, however, and needs times to spread throughout the nation, and eventually the globe. As complex as these services sound, they are actually quite easy to use and understand. All it takes is the literacy to use a smartphone, download an app, and upload your information so the company can protect you in everyway that they can.

LifeLock has been around for over a decade now, and it is popular in its industry, but I don’t think it is as successful as they make it look. They have advantages over other businesses with the fact that they are traded publicly and have influence in the market. I think there is a major difference between success and popularity though. My favorite example to explain this regards the infamous Johnny Manziel. Johnny won the Heisman Trophy while at Texas A&M, the most prestigious award given in college football. After being drafted, he was found to be a “party animal” and was a complete failure in the NFL. Everyone knows who Johnny Manziel is, but he was not successful as a professional whatsoever. I think this is the same situation with LifeLock. Unlike Johnny Manziel, who will never be successful in the NFL, LifeLock has the potential to be successful due to the fact that they offer services for a crime that is becoming more and more prevalent every single day in the United States, and around the world as well. LifeLock has major potential in the future, but they must hope other companies enter the industry with better services and/or better costs to join. Regardless of the company, the service LifeLock offers will become more prevalent in the future and will be apart of everyone’s daily life.

Sources

http://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/identity-theft-and-cybercrime

http://www.bna.com/lifelock-shells-80m-n57982077654/

https://successstory.com/companies/lifelock

http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/184034/no-one-winning-battle-digital-wallet-customers.aspx

https://www.lifelock.com/

What is LifeLock? And why should I use it?

September 8, 2016September 22, 2016 / joemarino24 / Leave a comment

What is LifeLock?

LifeLock is a company that offers premier service in proactive identity theft protection and prevention. Ever since they opened in 2005, they are considered pioneers in the industry due to their utilization of data, science, and patented technology. The company is also publicly traded and has over 4 million users, so that alone should state their presence in the field. Before I explain how LifeLock protects its users, I first want to explain what identity theft is. Identity theft is when another person uses information about you without your permission. Thieves may use your name, address, social security number, bank accounts, and even medical insurance. (Consumer.gov) When you sign up for LifeLock, you are asked to enter your personal information on a secure server so the LifeLock team has the information necessary to protect you from criminal activity and being put in a situation no one wants to be in. This being said, LifeLock uses 3 vital steps in protecting you from identity theft. The first step is “Detect”, which is the physical action of LifeLock noticing suspicious activity in one of your accounts. LifeLock monitors over a trillion data points to secure your information from people trying to get loans, credit, and services in your name. (LifeLock.com) The next step is “Alert”. When suspicious activity is detected by LifeLock, the user is notified by LifeLock and is asked to confirm if the transaction is fraudulent. If the user confirms fraudulent activity, LifeLock takes action, but if the activity is not fraudulent, LifeLock does nothing. The last step is “Restore”, which includes the use of Identity Protection Agents and Specialists that aid in the restoration of a user’s identity. LifeLock even offers a $1 million guarantee, which states that LifeLock will spend up to $1 million to help restore your identity. The video posted below was posted by LifeLock describing these three steps in detail and gives a great representation of how the service works.

LifeLock is no free service, unfortunately. The company offers three premier membership options in which the user can choose which plan they desire based on their needs. The three options are LifeLock Standard, LifeLock Advantage, and LifeLock Ultimate Plus. The prices range from $9.99, $19.99, and $29.99 per month respectively. The better the membership a user has comes with benefits such as increased stolen funds replacement, credit reports, and advanced activity reports. LifeLock offers a free app for both iOS and Android that easily allows users to edit their profile, receive alerts, and even contact support from LifeLock. The app was designed to create an easy access to your account, but recent reviews say the app is a waste of time and not worth your time or efforts.

Due to modern day technologies, hackers are not only able to hack accounts of individuals, but businesses and corporate accounts as well. Because of this, LifeLock has created a new division of its company that focuses on business solutions. It is a service extremely similar to the other LifeLock memberships I listed before, but helps protect the identities of a businesses members, customers, and employees. According to an article on CNN, the Scottrade hack of 2015 exposed the data of over 4.6 million Americans, allowing the hackers to obtain extremely confidential and personal information. LifeLock offers business solutions to avoid events like the one that occurred at Scottrade. LifeLock offers programs such as Data Breach Solutions, Affinity Programs, Financial Services and even programs for Insurance provides to assure that its clients and their information is safe.

Pros

LifeLock provides a number of benefits in the event that you are a victim of identity theft. Items such as driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and passports are just a few types of documents LifeLock is willing to cover. Along with replacing documents, LifeLock also pledges to reimburse you for traveling expenses as a result of identity theft. Legal costs and loss of income are also listed under the list of reimbursed items and services offered by LifeLock. I personally feel these are a comfortable list of benefits considering these are my worries if I were placed in a situation where my identity was stolen and I needed financial assistance. Other benefits of LifeLock include the speed of which LifeLock notifies you with an alert stating there was suspicious activity in one of your accounts.

Cons

LifeLock is a reliable service, but do you really need it? It is definitely possible to check your own credit and accounts, so why would people pay to have someone else do it? This being said, LifeLock comes at no bargain. The cheapest membership option is valued at almost $10 per month, and can reach up to $30 per month. If you are willing to spend such money on the service, by all means go for it. But as a college student that doesn’t really need to subscribe to LifeLock, there are other ways to keep your identity safe without shelling out money you don’t want to every month. Another con with using LifeLock is that for your premium membership, LifeLock really only notifies you of suspicious activity. Once you are notified, it is your responsibility to take action on protecting your identity. The membership options should also consider a family plan, or a plan that allows you to add members to your account, but instead, LifeLock makes you have a separate account for each individual. With businesses like Spotify and Apple Music, it is extremely popular that the ability to obtain a family plan is available.

What makes LifeLock relevant?

Although there are apps and services that allow you to keep your identity and personal information safe, our society is entering a new era where the technology available to people is allowing them to obtain almost all information regarding an individual. There are only so many companies that offer a service as efficient and popular as LifeLock. IdentityForce is another leading company and service for identity theft, but it comes at a much higher price. But with that higher price you get more out of IdentityForce than LifeLock. LifeLock doesn’t track medical and insurance records, but IdentityForce does. That being said though, the average person does not want to pay an additional $10 a month for those two records. LifeLock is clearly more liked over IdentityForce because it is cheaper and covers the essentials. The system that is currently used by LifeLock was implemented in 2009, which at the time was the best of the best service offered for identity theft. This was when the technique of monitoring over one trillion data points and alerting you if there was suspicious activity was implemented. I also think that LifeLock is innovative for its industry because there have only been apps available for smartphones for about 10 years, and LifeLock was smart enough to hop on the smartphone bandwagon and offer a service that scares so many Americans. LifeLock takes away the stress and efforts of constantly checking your accounts, as well as taking action towards identity theft given the event that you are a victim of such crime.