The Debix Identity Protection Network, gave Javelin data on 500 children who were enrolled in their service from July 18, 2008 through September 12, 2008 to research and analyze for their child identity theft study. The study found that 5% of children, aged 17 and under, had a credit report with their Social Security number. Children should not have credit reports. At 1 in 20 that is one child in every classroom in the United States that has their credit messed up in some way. Statistically, 3.8 million children may already be affected by identity theft. Other highlights of the study are:

• Among the 5%, the average amount of debt was $12,779.
• 12% of those with credit problems were aged 5 and under.
• 25% of these victims had bills or lines of credit in collections or foreclosure. 66% of these children had fake or wrong names listed under their SSN.
• 42% of those children with erroneous credit reports only had credit files at one credit bureau, meaning their fraud could have gone unnoticed without checking all three bureaus.

Debix has also released the story of some of these children, with the parents permission of course, and they are very interesting. Gregg White enrolled his 17 year old daughter along with himself and found she owed $325,000 and that her Social Security number was in use by a criminal for 25 years. That's right 25 years, it was being used for 8 years before she was born. Another child had seven identities under his SSN. One fourteen year old had a credit history spanning 10 years and included credit cards and a foreclosed mortgage. These point to an important issue regarding child identity theft, that the crime can often go undetected resulting in larger losses and a far more difficult time restoring your credit and identity.

Debix helped all these victims restore their identity but many young adults are left to fend for themselves unaware that they were saddled with debt and fraudulent credit activity until they are turned down for their first job or refused their first credit application or student loan.

So what can you do to protect your child from identity theft?

First, you have to realize that they are just as vulnerable as you so you have to be vigilant in your protection of their personally identifying information. Just a few weeks back a former PTA president in California was convicted of identity theft and sentenced to three years in prison. Her victims, 57 people, included her neighbors, her dead mother and a 6 year old girl. Trust no one, not even family. Question those who require your child's SSN. Do they really need it? How do they protect it? Talk to your child about keeping their personal information private especially online. Shred any identifying information.

Second, write to the credit bureaus using certified mail to see if your child has a credit report or if there are any public records using your child's SSN. If your child has a credit report you know their is a problem and will unfortunately spend many hours researching, filing paperwork, and making phone calls to restore your child's identity.

Third, your families private information at home, both physical and electronic, should be locked up. This means password protecting your computer and using a safe or locking file cabinet. Child identity theft is often committed by someone known to the victim.

The other option, and a much better one in our opinion, is to use an identity theft protection service such as Debix to protect their identities. Debix will monitor your child's SSN to make sure it isn't used fraudulently. They routinely search thousands of available public databases, including all three national credit bureaus, criminal and bankruptcy records, utility service records and others, to determine if someone is using your child’s SSN. They will also include identity theft insurance and restoration services in the event they do become a victim. With Debix you can even sign up your child even though you are not enrolled. Debix costs $24 per year per adult and $20 per year per child. Get the peace of mind you deserve, protect yourself and your children today.

Getting an official looking letter in the mail is rarely good news. Oftentimes it means a jury summons or a property tax bill or as is becoming very common in the last few years, a notice that you have been the victim of a data breach. Companies often use the mail to notify you that their records have been compromised and your personal and private information may have been released into the wrong hands or lost.

Of course, a data breach letter can be a rather upsetting piece of mail to get, but the first thing to remember is not to panic. Just because you receive a breach notification does not mean that identity thieves have run up your credit card and are on the way to Venezuela. Instead, here is what you should do.

1. Read the letter carefully. A thoughtfully written statement should tell you the exact details of the information that was stolen or otherwise released. In some cases, it may be minor information, such as your name and address. In others, it will be a more serious situation, such as a breach of account numbers, passwords or Social Security number.
2. If some of your more sensitive information was disclosed, make haste and cancel the accounts in question. Call your credit card issuers, insurance company or bank as need be. Most will have 24-hour hotlines set up for this purpose.
3. Place a fraud alert on your credit file. Hopefully, you found out about the breach in a timely fashion and can prevent identity thieves from using your information. With a fraud alert on your file creditors are required to verify your identity, routinely done by phoning you for verification, before opening any new accounts in your name. Fraud alerts do not affect your credit negatively in any way. Fraud alerts need to be renewed every 90 days.
4. If you believe that an identity thief is already misusing your information, file a report with the local police department where the theft occurred and contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-IDTHEFT for information on how to proceed. Consider freezing your account at each of the three main credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Many companies will supply victims of data breaches with free credit monitoring for a limited time and offer to assist you with any expenses you incur due to their negligence. It is well within your right to take advantage of these offers and even to file a lawsuit if it comes to that. Placing a fraud alert to go along with the credit monitoring is a great idea as it can prevent the theft from occurring in the first place. This way you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the mess or clearing your good name.

Since you never know when a previous data breach will come back to haunt you, many identity thieves wait up to two years, you may also want to consider signing up for identity theft protection with one of the leading companies on our site. In addition to placing and renewing fraud alerts, ordering credit reports and other beneficial services, you also get identity theft insurance from $25,000 to $1 million. Prices are also very reasonable with Debix offering their service for $24 per year, TrustedID $89 per year and LifeLock $99 per year. Most services offer family discounts so you can protect your entire family for a very affordable price.

Some plans, like TrustedID even offer options to freeze your credit so that no one, but existing creditors, can access it. All identity theft services offer identity theft experts to help you if you do become a victim. Since hundreds of breaches happen yearly in the United States alone, and close to 10 million Americans fall victim each year, it’s great to have a professional advocate on your side if identity theft happens to you. Take the time to explore our site to learn about your options and how you can protect yourself from this devastating crime.

A recent European data breach has rung alarm bells worldwide. According to the Wall Street Journal European law-enforcement officials discovered a high tech identity theft ring that funnels account data to Pakistan and has affected big retailers like Walmart Stores and Tesco in Britain.

What has raised alarm bells, in addition to the fact that account information was being sent to a county that al Qaeda uses as a base, is the use of untraceable devices and a sophisticated program that makes the data breach very hard to detect. In fact, Joel F. Brenner, the U.S. government's top counterintelligence officer said

Pretty small but intelligent criminal organizations are pulling off transnational, multi-continent heists that only a foreign intelligence service would have been able to do a few years ago.

The Pakistan identity theft ring placed a 4 ounce card capable of wireless communication under the motherboard of credit card readers made in China. The bug would read credit or debit card information, store it and then call a Lahore Pakistan server once a day to upload the data.

What made their system almost undetectable was a sophisticated program that would only upload account information sporadically, changing the pattern of the theft to avoid detection. The bug would also communicate with the server in Pakistan to receive new instructions daily and could even be told to become inactive to avoid detection.

So far hundreds of tampered credit card readers have been found in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Investigators can only tell the tampered readers by weight as there are no indications externally. The investigation is continuing and is likely to find many more data breaches though it is uncertain whether this particular scheme may have been implemented anywhere outside Europe.

According to the WSJ the ring has made repeated bank withdrawals and online purchases, including airline tickets, in several countries including the United States. Early estimates peg the loss in the $50 to $100 million range. Hard to believe that everyday good citizens ‘could be’ contributing to terrorists to the tune of $100 million or more. The key there is ‘could be’ as there has been no official blame put on al-Qaeda or anyone for that matter. Still it is alarming that identity theft rings from far away countries can steal our personal information and withdraw money from our bank account or charge our credit cards. Terrorists or not, we all know they are not up to anything good.

If you have not taken the time to educate yourself about the threat of identity theft I think this gives you a clear and present reason to do so. In the last three years over 217 million Americans had some form of personal information exposed by a data breach and over 25 million Americans have become victims of this crime. Data breaches are still increasing. Street gangs and sophisticated identity theft rings have already been busted but far more have not been uncovered. Large criminal rings like the mafia, biker gangs and even terrorists have far more resources and if not already involved will be soon. This is not meant to scare you, it is simply reality. Please follow the link to learn about the best identity theft protection services available. Your financial security is far too important to leave unprotected.

Data breaches continue to be reported at alarming rates even though there is evidence that a lot of corporations fail to report as required in 37 States. To date there have been 524 data breaches affecting over 30 Million Americans. This is a sharp increase from the 424 breaches reported in 2007. It is important to note that identity theft can occur from any breach regardless of size. The reverse is also true in that a massive data breach may not lead to any cases of identity theft. The following is a sample, both large and small, of breaches reported in September. If your data was compromised in any of these it is important to read the details to determine if you need additional ID theft protection.

St. Paul's Surgery
A robbery that involved St. Paul's Surgery in Winchester was the reason for over 15,000 patients' information being stolen mid-September.

The personal information of patients registered at St. Paul's Surgery was stored on a computer back-up tapes. These tapes were stored in a locked safe that was in a locked room, but the burglars broke through a rear door and set off the alarm.

The tapes are password protected, as well as they require specialized computer equipment to read. The hope is that none of the information is at risk, but managers did send letters to those whose personal details were stored on the stolen computer back-up tapes.

Ex-Employee Copies Data of Lottery Winners in Austin, Texas
A previous computer analyst for the Texas Lottery Commission was arrested for copying data of over 27,000 people who had won prizes from the Texas Lottery. This ex-employee copies the data and took them to his next job, exposing Social Security numbers and some bank account and routing numbers of numerous employees and lottery retailers.

The month-long investigation led to the arrest mid-September. The information has been recovered, and it is unknown if the data had been compromised. Lottery winners are requested to watch their bank accounts and credit reports for any malicious or suspicious charges or changes.

University of Pittsburgh
A laptop at the University of Pittsburgh that contained personal information of it’s College of Business Administration graduates was stolen in August of 2008. Information lost included names and Social Security numbers of graduates. It is unknown the number of students that are affected by this theft.

The laptop was last used by an employee to conduct surveys, and was stolen from Mervis Hall on campus on August 11th, 2008. The employee was violating a policy established by the university regarding storage of sensitive data. The information on the laptop was supposed to have been deleted and removed from the laptop.

It does not appear as though the information has been used, but the university did contact the graduates and notified them of the recent loss. At this time, the thief has not been identified.

GS Caltex
GS Caltex, one of the nation’s largest oil refineries, is responsible for the lost of information of over 11 million of it’s customers.

Two discs, a DVD and a CD-Rom, were found in a backstreet trash pile in a Seoul subway station by an office worker. These discs contained files in a “GS Caltex” folder that included names, address, phone numbers, email addresses, workplaces, and Social Security numbers of it’s customers. Immediately upon receiving the discs, GS Caltex compared the information with the data in their current systems, and found that the information is that collected for a discount card available by it’s company. This information does not include credit card or bank account information.

There has been no evidence of hacking, and so far, none of the information has been used inappropriately by any outside sources. It is believed that this information was taken by an employee of the company, and GS Caltex is doing everything it can to investigate this case.

National Offender Management Service
Staff of the UK justice system, the National Offender Management Service in England and Wales, may be forced to relocate their families due to a data breach that actually happened in the middle of 2007. Approximately 5,000 employees of the justice system were affected.

The data was lost by a company called EDS, and they were not notified of this loss of data until recently. This is extremely upsetting to authorities, considering the information is private and puts the employees, and their families, at risk.

Authorities will look into the information that was lost, as well as how it was lost and how this could affect those whose information was lost. Just weeks before, a computer memory stick with the information and personal details of thousands of criminals was lost as well. This missing information could affect many people and their safety.

This loss could cost taxpayers millions of pounds, as the cost of relocating and protecting the employees and their families could get expensive.

East Burke High School in Morganton, NC
East Burke High School, based in Morganton, North Carolina, recently discovered that for the past five years, their school website had staff member’s personal information available to those online.

Liberty Coalition, an organization that searches and notifies companies and organizations about data security leaks, found the file simply by using Yahoo’s search engine. In this file was information uploaded online in 2003, which included employee names, Social Security numbers, home addresses, unlisted phone numbers, job titles and email addresses. 163 people’s information was available online. They notified the school on August 27, 2008, and the school’s principal informed those affected two days later.

Although the file was immediately removed from the internet by school officials, Liberty Coalition’s spokesperson claims that it is impossible to guarantee that the file was not downloaded or archived by someone else and that the information was indeed entirely removed.

There are numerous ways that the school can assist those who were affected. Instead of filing Social Security numbers, they could replace them with employee numbers. Access to important files like these should be limited and password protected to be available to those who need to access it. The school had a meeting with those affected to discuss protecting their identity and to address the victims’ questions and concerns.

Clarkson University
Near the end of August, a student at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York gained access to a drive that was meant to be password protected for authorized users only. This student notified the campus of the vulnerability of this drive, and authorities quickly took action. Over 200 employees, including former employees, had personal information on this drive, which included information such as names, social security numbers, date of birth, and records regarding their university credit cards.

The drive was only accessible on the Clarkson University network. It was accessible due to some work being done on the school servers which caused the access information to be set to default, allowing anyone on the campus network to view the files. Once the breach was discovered, authorities launched a full investigation to find out who had accessed the files during this time. The student appeared to be the only unauthorized person to access the drive, and it did not appear as though anyone else had access to the drive.

Reynoldsburg, Ohio School District
Information on the students of Reynoldsburg’s school district in Ohio was stored on a laptop that was stolen on August 23rd, 2008.

The school was recently switching their computerized system to eliminate the use of Social Security numbers. The computer technician that was contracted to do the work had left the laptop in his car while attending a wedding in Columbus, where it was stolen.

The technician had completed the work, but had not deleted the information from the laptop. It is not known if the thief was aware that this information was on the computer. The information included the Social Security numbers and names and addresses of over 4,000 current students.

Forever 21 Retail Store
Recently, the retail store Forever 21 found that some of their customer's credit card information had been accessed by an outside source. The following nine shopping dates have been affected: March 25, 2004, March 26, 2004; June 23, 2004; July 2, 2004; July 3, 2004; August 4, 2007; August 5, 2007; August 13, 2007; and August 14, 2007. The main store location affected is that in Fresno, California, located at 567 E. Shaw Avenue.

Approximately 98,000 credit and debit card numbers are at risk, though over half of the numbers accessed are expired credit accounts. This information did not contain customer names or addresses.

Tennessee State University
Mid September, a missing flash drive containing Social Security numbers and financial information for over 9,000 students was reported. This information dates back to 2002.

Tennessee State University has sent out letters to those that could be affected, and the university is also offering credit protection to those students whose records were lost. As far as University officials recall, the information was not password protected or encrypted, but at this point, there have been no attempts to use the data.

The employee who misplaced the flash drive is on paid leave during the investigation.

Marshall University in Charleston, West Virginia
Near the end of August, university officials discovered that the information of nearly 200 students, which included social security numbers, was publicly available on the internet. The information was available through a student's personal web page via a Microsoft Word document.

This breach is not considered a threat, but the university has taken the steps to notify those who may be affected by misuse of this information.

State Farm Insurance
The Surprise, Arizona State Farm branch run by agent Lisa Ro Grant is under investigation after one of her employees fraudulently used customer information to obtain new credit card accounts. Access to this information supplies customer social security numbers, driver's license numbers, addresses and possible some financial account numbers.

The amount of information accessed and directly affected was not disclosed, but it could have affected those outside of the state of Arizona. Letters have been sent and free credit monitoring has been set up for those affected.

For a complete list of data breaches please visit http://datalossdb.org.

Summary
With 30 Million records already exposed and no end in sight it is clear that identity theft is going to continue at its torrid pace. Illegal internet sites that sell our personal information are popping up all the time and personal information from old data breaches such as the T-Mobile breach are appearing on these sites after being dormant for 2.5 years. This is why you should consider using an identity protection service for protection.

So you’re afraid of unwanted activity on your credit report—who isn’t? Or, you’ve already noticed some. What is the best way to protect your name?

The two main ways to flag your account is by issuing a fraud alert or a credit freeze. But which one should you use?

A fraud alert is simply that—it alerts creditors that you are trying to protect yourself from fraud, and it does not affect your current credit. It protects you from credit applications that are made without your authorization. It makes the creditors take one more step, in that they must confirm your identity (routinely done by personal contact at the phone number you provide), before issuing new credit or bank accounts. This way, they contact YOU and no one else before opening an account in your name.

So, say Joe Shmoe got a hold of your information and tried to open a new interest free credit card at Electronics ‘N More. You’ll get a call asking for confirmation. This way, you may know the exact moment the activity is being done, where, and by whom, and can instantly alert the authorities with a better shot at success than if you just find the information on your credit report—after all has been said and done.

Of course, even when you apply for your own credit, you’ll be called as well. But at least this time you can confirm that it is indeed you that is applying for credit and NOT Joe Schmoe!

Fraud alerts expire after 90 days, so if you want to keep one continually on your account, you’ll have to renew it every three months. Or, if you sign up for an identity protection service, such as Debix, LifeLock or TrustedID, they will handle this for you and keep it renewed until cancellation of their service.

Alternatively, you can place a credit, or security freeze on your accounts. This, unlike do it yourself fraud alerts, costs money, generally around $10 per credit reporting agency though it does vary by state. Some states have even made it free for identity theft victims who have a police report proving they are indeed victims.

Credit freezes previously involved writing a certified letter with your personal information to each agency requesting that this freeze be placed, lifted, or removed but the bureaus are starting to allow this to be done online (please see each of their personal websites for specific information regarding placing a credit/security freeze, as each company’s policy is different). All credit bureau sites are listed in our identity theft resources section. We suggest using certified mail to send any valid identification that is requested by the credit bureaus. You may also want to look at TrustedID as they have an add-on service to their regular offering that allows you to freeze and unfreeze your credit at all three bureaus from a single interface. An additional charge that varies by state applies.

Remember when placing a freeze, it also keeps YOU from applying for additional credit. So if you place a freeze, don’t expect to run to Electronics ‘N More and open a credit account, as you will quickly be denied due to the freeze. Utilities, landlords and employers often need access to your credit file as well so this service is definitely not for everyone. Credit freezes are suggested for people who have moved passed the point where they need credit, like seniors, or people who are currently under attack by an identity thief.

So how do you remove it? You will have to contact each credit bureau and pay them again to remove or lift the freeze temporarily. Be expected to give out all your personal information again to identify yourself—they want to make sure it is you, and not someone else, trying to remove the freeze. Keep in mind that dealing with the bureaus can be a frustrating experience as they are not known for their customer service.

The only other choice some consumers may want to consider is credit monitoring. Credit monitoring services can be an effective identity protection tool but they are not pro-active like fraud alerts in that they only notify you after the fact that you have become a victim. Unlike fraud alerts and credit freezes they do not stop identity theft, they just make you aware quickly so that you can start cleaning up the mess immediately. Many credit monitoring services do come with identity insurance, which is a great benefit, just make sure that the company you choose monitors all 3 credit bureaus or you may be unaware of an identity theft attack that does not propagate to the bureau that is monitoring your credit.

What’s best? It depends on your wants and needs. If you just want to make sure that creditors take the extra step to verify your identity, then place a fraud alert and renew it every 90 days. But if you notice suspicious activity already, or don’t plan on applying for any credit, jobs, rentals or loans, feel free to freeze your credit to keep anything from happening to your personal data. Remember though, a credit freeze is still not full proof and though access to your credit report will be blocked to companies you do not currently deal with, existing creditors will still have access. In this way an identity thief can still trick existing creditors such as your bank to extend further credit to them. Keep in mind though that freezes and do it yourself fraud alerts don’t have the additional benefit of identity theft insurance.

The alternative is to have an identity protection service do the work for you for a minimal charge. It’s a small price to pay for peace of mind and they offer other services not included with a credit freeze. Most identity protection companies also monitor black market internet sites and databases to stop potential leaks or the buying and selling of your information. They also order your free credit report and remove you from pre-approved credit cards and junk mail lists. Additionally, they provide you with identity theft insurance which is extremely important since, irregardless of your identity protection choice, there is no such thing as full proof identity protection.

Whatever you decide, remember to take action. Often with our busy lives we forget to follow through and identity theft can be such a horrific experience that you don’t want to let this task slip through the cracks. Educate yourself on the four options available - credit monitoring, credit freeze, fraud alert company or do it yourself fraud alerts and credit reports – and then take action. Though some are better than others the only bad choice is to sit idly by waiting to become the next victim. Protect yourself and your family from identity theft today.

LifeLock won The International Business Award, called the Stevie Awards for best radio campaign of 2008. They were also a finalist for six other categories including: Best New Company, Best Overall Company, Best New Product, Best Print Ad (magazine and newspaper) and Best TV Ad. Companies compete for the Stevie Award from all over the world with entries received from over 30 countries in 2008.

LifeLock is no stranger to awards having previously won multiple Red Herring Awards and numerous American Business Awards. Their marketing campaign has been so effective that they have signed up close to 1.5 million customers in the last few years. No competitor has come close to this level of success. Todd Davis, CEO of Lifelock explained why he shows his Social Security number in print and on T.V.

"We want consumers to know that their personal information may already be out there. I give out my social security number in LifeLock's marketing campaigns, to show consumers that I have taken the proactive steps to protect my identity."

The Stevie Awards are judged by independent worldwide volunteers, who select the finalists, and by The International Business Awards Distinguished Judges Board who picks the winner.

Our congratulations to LifeLock for another prestigious award.

If you are interested in their identity protection services please visit our home page to compare LifeLock to Debix and TrustedID.

Congress is once again taking positive steps to combat the growing epidemic of identity theft. According to K.C. Jones at InformationWeek, Congress passed a very important bill on Monday that will help fight identity theft. They did this by adding an amendment containing most of an anti-spyware bill.

Bill H.R. 5938 an amendment to Senate bill S. 2168 has been passed and is expected to be signed by President George Bush. It is an important piece of legislation because it gives the federal government the ability to prosecute identity theft crimes even if the perpetrator and victim are in the same jurisdiction. Previously federal prosecution was only possible if the identity thief used interstate or foreign communications to infect a computer with spyware or keystroke loggers. Another important aspect is that it allows identity theft victims to obtain restitution for the time and money they spent restoring their credit.

The legislation will also make it a criminal activity to delete, threaten to obtain, or release data from a computer or even to threaten to crash a computer. Furthermore, it addresses cyber extortion by making it a crime to demand money for the protection of a computer. A conspiracy charge was also added and rights were given to federal prosecutors to seize property used in the commencement of the crime.

In addition to identity theft, the amendment also includes stiffer penalties for the use of malicious spyware and keystroke loggers that damages a computer. It is now a misdemeanor (up to one year in prison) to send spyware that causes any loss. Previously that loss had to be greater than $5000. The legislation would also make it a felony (up to 10 years in prison) to use spyware or keystroke loggers that causes damage to ten or more computers.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau praised Congress for passing the legislation with appropriate language that balances the protection of legitimate industry practices and the rights of consumers to be properly protected from identity theft and fraud.

Mike Zaneis, VP of Public Policy at the Interactive Advertising Bureau stated.

"We appreciate the attention that Congress is giving to the important issues of combating identity theft and the proliferation of malicious spyware, and we support the approach taken in this legislation. The threat of having consumers' identities stolen and the proliferation of spyware can erode consumer confidence in the Internet and undermines legitimate advertising and e-mail practices. IAB endorses the approach taken by Congress, which appropriately targets illegitimate conduct and provides law enforcement agencies with additional tools and resources to bring these criminals to justice.”

Keyloggers, which log every keyboard stroke, and spyware have become tools of the trade for many identity thieves. This is important legislation in that it not only gives federal agencies more power to deal with these crimes but also because it increased prison sentences, both of which may act as a deterrent to some would be thieves. Victim restitution is also another important aspect. Further legislation in regards to data breaches and the responsibilities of those holding our information is still needed, but this Bill certainly helps address the problem of cybercrime. It is great to know that Congress is still thinking about identity theft prevention and how they can help the 9 million victims who fall prey to this crime every year.

That being said it is still very important for Americans to protect their computer from these online security threats. A review of internet security software packages may be on the horizon at Identity Theft Labs since online security is an important aspect of a complete identity protection plan. Currently Identity Guard is the only company offering an online security suite as part of their package. If you still don’t have computer protection and are interested in combining this with an effective identity protection service then Identity Guard is the right choice for you.

Debix has added an incredibly valuable offer to the identity protection market. Previously Debix concentrated on selling to corporate clients and consumers could sign up with LoudSiren, their partner in the identity protection network. In an exchange of roles, LoudSiren will now market only to businesses. Consumers can now sign up direct at Debix.com. To kick off the change in roles Debix announced, in a surprising if not shocking move, that they were lowering their price to only $24 per year. Though their is no guarantee that the large discount will always remain, there are no signs that this is a limited time Debix promotion. Family plans are also available at a discounted rate.

For those still unfamiliar with Debix, they are the company that signed residents of the States of Ohio and Connecticut, as well as the City of Nashville, after they experienced large data breaches. Currently, Debix protects government agencies in 35 states.

Debix is also known for their unique fraud alert system that protects your phone number and provides an audit trail. Instead of placing your phone number in your credit file, Debix places their phone number. When a potential creditor calls, Debix routes the call to any three phone numbers of your choice. You can then either approve the transaction or connect to a Debix Identity Response Specialist, a licensed investigator, who will contact and involve the appropriate authorities. In one case reported on their website, Debix protected one of their customers from an illegal $30,000 equity loan. Nothing special there but there On Call Investigator was able to learn how the customer breach occurred and realized this customers business associate could also be at risk. They notified the associate and sure enough he was about to get dinged for $30,000 as well. The appropriate bank was notified and the transaction stopped. This is a unique selling proposition for Debix as they are the only identity protection network offering this service.

Click here to see a video on how an On Call Investigator helped protect one Debix customer.

The other claim to fame for Debix is that they are the only identity protection company that can prove they prevent identity fraud. Recently they stated they have stopped over 1400 cases of identity theft worth a total of $9,310,000 in the last 10 months. Their unique system allows them to track how many identity fraud attempts they have stopped.

Like their competitors Debix places and renews your fraud alerts every 90 days, stops pre-approved credit offers, significantly reduces junk mail, and provides you with a 3 bureau credit report. They also provide $25,000 worth of identity theft insurance.

In our opinion, this is a very strong company and offer. In fact, we find the price unbelievably low. Debix can make this offer due to the economies of scale brought forth by their innovative fraud alert technology. Please read our Debix review for an unbiased, in-depth review of Debix or take the initiative to protect your identity now at Debix.com

Editors Note:Debix has simplified their pricing plan. Debix identity protection is now available at a price of $24 per year per adult and $20 per year per child. This removes the confusing multi family plans they previously offered.

What's interesting about data breaches reported in August 2008 is the extent of breaches in foreign countries. The largest and most disturbing breach may affect many Americans as well. According to the Sunday Herald of the UK an investigation has discovered that

"a previously unknown Indian hacker successfully breached the IT defences of the Best Western Hotel group's online booking system and sold details of how to access it through an underground network operated by the Russian mafia."

The personal and private information of over 8,000,000 people who had stayed at the Best Western since 2007 was stolen. Security expert Jacques Erasmus, an ex-hacker who now works for the computer security firm Prevx, had this to say

"They've pulled off a masterstroke here, there are plenty of hacked company databases for sale online but the sheer volume and quality of the information that's been stolen in the Best Western raid makes this particularly rare. The Russian gangs who specialise in this kind of work will have been exploiting the information from the moment it became available late on Thursday night. In the wrong hands, there's enough data there to spark a major European crime wave."

Identity Theft Labs has reported often that the major criminal syndicates are becoming increasing involved in identity theft and though the Russian Mafia was one of the first you can expect that others groups will join in, if they haven't already.

The Best Western wasn't the only foreign breach. The Ireland Department of Social and Family Affairs compromised the private and financial information of 380,000 people when a laptop was stolen. The Royal Bank of Scotland was one party involved in the data breach that saw a hard drive, containing personal information and account details of approximately one million people, sold on Ebay. The Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology compromised the private information of thousands of South Korean officials via the internet. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the UK. through a number of data breaches, exposed the confidential information of up to 62,000 people.

Though we tend to focus on American data breaches it is important to realize that this is not an American problem but a worldwide problem. Most countries, like some of our States, don't even require reporting of these incidents. It is only when you consider that what we are seeing is merely the tip of the iceberg that you start to realize the extent of the problem the world is facing. Identity theft is not going to go away so, if you haven't already, it would be wise to implement an identity protection plan today.

Here is a list of American breaches reported in August by Attrition.org. Please visit their site for direct links to the initial articles.

Reynoldsburg Ohio City School District
Stolen laptop contains names, addresses, and Social Security numbers of 4,259

Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund
Records of 13,000 retired police compromised in database

Prince William Co. Public Schools
Confidential information for more than 2,600 exposed through file sharing program

Pennsylvania Public Welfare Department
2,845 welfare renewal packets sent to wrong mailing addresses

National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Social Security numbers, names, and dates of birth for at least 12,700 on stolen laptop

Louisiana Real Estate Commission
13,000 Social Security numbers and other personal information posted on the internet

PA Consulting / The Home Office
Contractor loses data on tens of thousands criminals

The Princeton Review
Information about 34,000 students and 74,000 students containing names and birth dates

Kingston Tax Service
Stolen laptop contains personal information for an unknown number of clients

Dominion Enterprises / InterActive Financial Marketing Group IFMG
Names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth of 92,095 on hacked server

Wuesthoff Medical Center
Names, social security numbers and medical information of over 500 posted to web

Charter Communications
Social Security numbers and dates of birth of 9,000 on stolen laptops

Harris County Hospital District
Financial and medical of 1,200 downloaded to flash drive later reported missing

Arapahoe Community College
15,000 notified about lost flash drive containing names, addresses, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers

Countrywide Financial Corp.
Insider possibly compromises 2,000,000 records, including Social Security numbers, of mortgage applicants

Delphi Automotive / Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Missing flash drive contains Social Security numbers of about 2,600

Barclays Bank PLC
Account details sent to thousands in mailing error

Graphic Data, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, American Express
Drive purchased on eBay contains personal and account details of around one million

One thing is for certain, these data breaches are not going to end anytime soon. In fact, they may never end. This is why it is important to start protecting yourself from identity theft. Identity theft protection can be done on your own or by utilizing a complete service like LifeLock or TrustedID. The important thing to realize is that our personal information, credit and finances, and indeed our identities are no longer safe. Anything you can do to protect your identity is a step in the right direction. Far too many Americans fail to take any action at all and many still remain oblivious to the reality of this horrible crime. Educate yourself, share your knowledge with others and encourage each other to take action. Lets keep our money out of the hands of criminals and mafia groups, wherever they reside, and in the hands of honest hard working Americans.

You hear about it all the time—identity theft and the victims that deal with it.

Identity theft is growing every day, and is becoming quite the epidemic with the growth and popularity of online shopping, social networking sites, and the numerous uses of a person’s social security number. Add in poor security measures at institutions, a growing number of hackers and the new work from home lifestyle that has resulted in far too many stolen laptops and you get a recipe for disaster.

How do you protect yourself from identity theft?

Well, you could spend tons of time and money pulling your credit report each month and scoping out any unusual activity. By pulling your credit report and reviewing it, activity has already occurred by this time. Credit monitoring comes with a monthly fee similar to other identity protection services but it still only lets you know after the fact about any unusual activity. Wouldn’t you be better off being proactive about protecting your identity, rather than spending numerous hours on the phone with creditors and faxing paperwork back and forth explaining that you’ve been a victim of identity theft and didn’t rack up all those charges?

Most would rather take the steps to initially avoid identity theft. What you have to do then is contact each of the credit bureaus to place fraud alerts on your account. Of course, fraud alerts only go for 90 days before they expire, and you have to start the whole process over again being careful to not miss your renewal date. But with so many busy families, who has the time?

Many Americans don’t! Life is hectic these days, especially if you have kids. A lot of us would rather have someone else do the work of watching their credit instead of depending on themselves to do so. This way there is no lapse in your credit protection due to a missed or late fraud alert renewal. And for a measly average of $9 a month, it is very affordable especially when you consider the costs and headaches involved in fixing the problem and the additional benefits you get by employing a service.

With professionals hired you also get additional services many of which you can not do on your own. You can remove yourself from junk mail and pre-approved credit offers, highly recommended by the way, but most companies also provide scanning of black market internet sites that sell your information and database monitoring. If your private information is found, anywhere it shouldn’t be, you are immediately notified. Most importantly, these services give you a service guarantee and/or identity theft insurance which is a must have given the scope of identity theft.

There are many companies out there offering identity theft protection. LifeLock, TrustedID, and Debix are just a few of the services out there to help you protect your credit and good name. Each of these companies are experienced and are the best of the best in our opinion, Of course, each one has their unique services, but for the most part, they will monitor your current credit and personal information and make sure you are contacted as new accounts are being open to make sure it is you requesting the loan, and if not, allowing you to take action immediately to stop the transaction rather than fixing the damage later.

If you’re worried about identity theft, these services will help keep your mind at ease knowing that someone is watching over your information with an eagle eye, so you have time for the more important things in life. Take the time now to review the services offered by these companies. It is far easier to set up an identity protection plan then go through the horror of fixing your credit.