Looking at the traffic terms for this site, I’ve seen a lot of people coming here with the phrase value of Lifelock. Rather than droning on about the latest data breach or identity theft I’m going to use today’s entry to expound upon the value of Lifelock.

The value of Lifelock is two-fold. The first branch of being a Lifelock subscriber is the peace of mind. It’s been reported time and time again that the largest threats to your identity don’t come from malicious hackers or server data breaches–although the online cases are much more publicized in the media, the fact of the matter is most identity theft occurs the old-fashioned way: someone flat out stealing your information. It was reported in a NY Post editorial that Mastercard issued a credit card (TWICE) after the application of the writer had been shredded, taped back together, and sent in. If that doesn’t make you (at least) scratch your head (if not be very, very concerned) I don’t know what will. It was a pretty interesting article but worrisome nonetheless. I think within the next week or so I’ll write up a nice little PDF file with a list of things you absolutely need to do whether you’re a Lifelock client or not. Anyway, since most id thefts occur offline, it’s much harder to control your personal data than it is online–there’s no https to look for (indicating a secure site), no phishing filters, etc. Lifelock fills in that gap; they can’t stop someone from crawling through your dumpster but they can ensure that there’s nothing they can do with information they collect–except get caught by the police.

That leads me to the next branch of their services–the actual action. By placing fraud alerts on your accounts it makes it practically impossible to do any action without your personal approval. This is no problem if you’re you but if you’re NOT you then you’ve essentially hit up against an impenetrable wall. Not only have you hit that wall but with the fraud alerts set you’re busted–it’s just a matter of time before the police are throwing cuffs on you and bringing you to jail for fraud. It’s that kind of peace of mind AND action that’s the real value of Lifelock and the services they provide.

Tags: lifelock

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 2:53 am and is filed under Individuals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.