Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced today that all 337,000 registered voters whose personal information was compromised will get free identity theft protection through Debix. The move is in response to a large outcry from concerned and frustrated residents. The compromise occurred when two laptops were stolen from the Davidson County Election Commission in a burglary that occurred over the Christmas Holiday season. The stolen laptops were not encrypted though they did have password protection.

“My goal is to not only protect the voters whose Social Security numbers have been put at risk, but also to protect the integrity of the election process. We’re going into an extremely important election season and I want all citizens to feel 100 percent confident that they can and should participate in this process without worrying about their personal information being compromised,” Dean said.

The City signed a contract with Debix giving voters free identity protection for the first year and a significantly reduced rate the second year.

“We are honored to extend the Identity Protection Network to the voters of Nashville,” Bo Holland, CEO of Debix, said. “In the past six months, we protected similarly affected citizens on behalf of the state of Ohio and the state of Connecticut and are well prepared for the mission at hand.”

Debix will place fraud alerts with all three credit bureaus and automatically renew them. Using state of the art, patent pending technology, Debix's automation system receives phone calls from creditors and forwards this call to three customer phone numbers. Customers then hear a recording of their own voice and can approve or disapprove the transaction by use of a personal identification number. This technology even prevents an identity thief who has your cell phone from taking advantage of your credit. Identity Theft insurance is also provided.

Debix has been the most requested provider of Identity Protection by companies, states, and cities who have experienced a data breach. Debix in partnership with LoudSiren, has also made great headway in to the business to consumer market trailing only the market leader Lifelock.

Save 10% on LoudSiren (Debix) the lowest allowable rate

Save 17.5% on LifeLock the lowest allowable rate

LifeLock Ceo Todd Davis has been active this week announcing two major signings for LifeLocks Identity Protection Services. LifeLock has signed Founders Bank and NARFE Premier Federal Credit Union. Both companies will offer LifeLocks services to their employees and customers. LifeLock has clearly been the leader in enrolling consumers due to their effective marketing strategies and is now taking their success and message to the financial business community. After recruiting executives from Bank of America and Visa in June, Lifelock has made inroads in the financial sector signing a half dozen or so major players before this weeks announcements.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing and most talked about crimes in the United States if not worldwide and businesses are now paying attention and looking for solutions. They are turning to companies like LifeLock and the LoudSiren Debix team to offer their employees and customers a proactive identity theft solution.

NARFE Premier FCU wanted to do more than tell members to protect themselves. Working with LifeLock we're actually doing something about identity theft. Most programs will only tell you there's been a problem whereas LifeLock keeps it from happening at all," said Todd Hoepker, Senior Vice President.

"We are very excited to partner with Life Lock by offering their valuable
theft protection service. ID Theft is the fastest growing crime in the nation. We are so convinced of the value of this service to combat ID Theft protection, we are extending our special discount pricing to not only our customers, but the community as well," said Michele Madia, Senior Vice President of Founders Bank.

We at IdentityTheftLabs.com have been pleased to always offer the same LifeLock discount. Please take the time now to review the services of these identity protection companies. They will not only save you the time and hassle of placing fraud alerts every 90 days but will also give you the security and peace of mind that only a million dollar guarantee could provide.

Save 17.5% with LifeLock.
Save 10% with LoudSiren.

Part 2
2007 Data Breaches via Stolen Laptops and Computers

It is now known in the criminal underground that Identity Theft is both easy and profitable. Thieves need personally identifiable information to commit identity theft and one way they get it is to steal a laptop or buy your personal information from another laptop thief. Personal information has a lot of value in the black market and it is often the case where the thief is not the end recipient of the stolen data. The following is a list of 2007 data breaches from stolen laptops and computers. The large majority of this information was not encrypted which would have at least added another layer of security. If your personal information has been compromised by any data breach don't allow yourself to become a victim of identity theft. Either take action yourself or sign up with LifeLock or LoudSiren as they are the leading identity theft protection companies.

• A doctor’s laptop was stolen from the Kaiser Medical Center containing medical information on 22,000 patients.
• A laptop stolen from a car in a state auditor's garage contained SSN's of 1950 employees of Springfield City Schools.
• 16,000 employees of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command had their personal information compromised when a laptop was stolen from a vehicle.
• Computers containing mystery shoppers’ personal data was stolen from Speedmark Inc.
• 40,000 employee records were compromised when two laptops were stolen from an office of the Chicago Public School system.
• A laptop computer was stolen from a benefits consultant that works with Caterpillar, Inc. The laptop contains personal information on Caterpillar employees.
• An outside consultant working on the University of New Mexico’s human resource and payroll systems had his laptop stolen.
• Neiman Marcus Group compromised the information of 160,000 employees when a computer was stolen from a third-party consultant.
• 12,000 records were compromised, presumably by a former employee of Broward County’s child welfare system who stole a laptop containing information for background checks, including fingerprint scans.
• A computer stolen from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education (TCLEOSE), a state agency that licenses police officers, compromised the data of 230,000 peace officers and jailers in the state of Texas. Editor Note: Never mind Identity Theft, the worry here is the safety of police officers and guards whose home address is in the hands of criminals.
• A Texas A&M University professor lost personal information of 8000 students while on vacation.
• A contractor for Deloitte & Touche had a laptop containing personal information stolen.
• Administaff Inc., a Houston-based provider of outsourced human resources services, had a laptop stolen which contained the personal data of 159,000 employees.
• 3,930 TSA drivers had their personal information compromised when 2 laptops were stolen.
• The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services reported a laptop "missing". The laptop contained data on more than 106,000 taxpayers. Editor Note: Not many better candidates for Identity Protection.
• The University of Iowa has informed 184 students that a stolen laptop may have had there Social Security numbers won it.
• 800,000 people who applied for work at The Gap had their personal information compromised when a laptop was stolen from a third-party vendor.
• A laptop stolen from an employees car had personal information on 10,000 Home Depot employees.
• Roudebush VA Medical Center lost information on 12,000 veterans due to a stolen laptop.

I know, the data breaches from Part 1 were staggering but they were mostly due to specialized identity thieves, in that some skill was required to obtain the information they wanted. Any criminal can steal a laptop and sell it on the black market and they are learning that it is profitable. A lot of decent citizens lost personally identifiable information due to these thefts at government agencies, universities, and reputable businesses. You may not be one of them but, as I am pointing out with this 4 part series, no one is safe. It does not matter whether you use an Identity Protection Service like LifeLock or LoudSiren Debix, or take steps to prevent identity theft on your own. What matters is that you realize we are living in a new era where our personal information is everywhere and that you need to take action now to protect your good name and credit.

Protect yourself now with LoudSiren (Debix) and save 10%

Protect yourself now with LifeLock and save 17.5%

LifeLock promotion codes have created some confusion with consumers looking for the best deal on LifeLock Identity Theft Protection. Affiliates are advertising a 17.5% Life Lock discount and as we have always done a 10% LifeLock discount. The confusion is further complicated by LifeLock. Let me explain. First of all, the final price no matter which affiliate you go through is $99/year. If you use an affiliate link LifeLock will show you a $21 savings off the radio price of $120, hence the save 17.5% on LifeLock promo code. However, if you were to traverse to Life Lock's website at at www.LifeLock.com without using an affiliate link the price would be $110, hence the save 10% Life Lock promo code. You see LifeLock radio advertisements offer their services for $120/year but the exact same identity protection service on the internet is $110. I guess it is an internet discount or they are trying to supplement the cost of their radio advertising. Regardless of the confusion, all customers who purchase LifeLock identity protection through any affiliate, such as Identity Theft Labs, pay $99 per year. Though we will continue to show a 10% savings as this is more accurate (you are using the internet, right!), we have revised our comparison chart to reflect the 17.5% savings promotion that other affiliates are using so that our customers know they are still getting the best deal. Customers who use Identity Theft Labs as their affiliate also receive the discounted rate for as long as they are a Lifelock customer. So what are you waiting for protect yourself with LifeLock Identity Protection Now!, and save 10% or 17.5% depending on how you look at it.

Save 17.5% with our LifeLock Promotion Code

Save 10% with our LoudSiren Promotion Code

Correction Notice: I talked with a LifeLock representative today who cleared up the confusion. The full price is $120/year but if you pay for the year in advance LifeLock gives you a $10 dollar discount. Affiliates can offer a 10% Lifelock discount to customers who pay monthly or yearly. So customers who pay $99 for the year save $21 off the monthly rate or 17.5%. Customers can also choose to pay monthly at $9/month instead of the LifeLock rate of $10/month saving 10%. I did have the bottom line correct, its $99/year no matter which affiliate or promotion code you use, so don't be so concerned with seeing a 10% discount as opposed to a 17.5% discount. Guess I better change my savings rate.

Your identity is not safe regardless of the precautions you have taken because your personal information has been entrusted to companies, institutions and governments that do not secure it properly. Thieves, hackers, insecure databases, stolen laptops, corrupt employees, and lack of proper procedures and policies all contribute to the growing trend of data breaches that affect 10's of millions of Americans each year. You will here that 10 million Americans were the victims of identity theft in 2007 but did you know that 60 million Americans had their personal and confidential information exposed in 2007. Data breaches and identity theft have made mainstream news but few Americans know the full extent of the personal risk they are facing and the economical loss that is incurred by the fraud that is perpetrated by the vast number of criminals who are using your personal information for their own gain. Though most Americans do little to protect themselves from identity theft this will change as they are educated about the dangers of having their information exposed. What most people don't know or realize is that an educated consumer is not going to stop the problem. Our personal information is already trusted to others and we continue to hand this information over to others every time we shop, apply for a job, enroll in school, or apply for a state or federal benefit. Our personal information is referred to as data by those who hold it, and though they may have good intentions in regards to keeping this data secure, they are often unable to properly secure it.

Protect yourself now with LoudSiren (Debix)

Protect yourself now with LifeLock

The following four part series will list some of the data breaches in 2007 so that you will understand that regardless of the precautions you take to secure your identity and financial information you are still at risk because others are not as vigilant.

Part 1 - A Partial List of 2007 Data breaches Via Thieves and Hackers

• TJX, the retailer that operates T. J. Maxx and Marshall’s lost the data of up to 46 million customers as thieves used a insecure wireless network in one store to gain access to the main database.
• Up to 79,000 health insurance customers of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co were affected when a database of a vendor was hacked.
• Stop & Shop Supermarkets customers lost debit and credit card numbers and their pins when thieves sucessfully tampered with the keypads used to enter information allowing the thieves to receive the pertinent data.
• 46,000 records of students, faculty, and staff associated with UCSF or UCSF Medical Center over the past two years were accessible via a compromised server.
• Thieves stole three years’ worth of tax returns from Tax Service Plus, a Santa Rosa accounting firm affecting 4,000 people.
• A University of Missouri computer database was hacked and more than 22,000 Social Security numbers were stolen.
• The Georgia Department of Human Resources warned parents of 140,000 babies born in Georgia between April 1, 2006, and March 16, 2007 that a security breach has exposed some of their personal and medical information to the risk of fraud.
• Western Union notified about 20,000 customers of a potential compromise of their personal data due to a database intrusion in which thousands of customers had their personal information stolen by hackers.
• A computer hacker gained access to 1,100 of the University of California, Davis veterinary school 2007-08 student applications.
• An employee of Certegy Check Services Inc., a St. Petersburg, Florida, subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services of Jacksonville, Florida, wrongfully removed and sold the records of 8.5 million customers to a data broker who in turn, sold part of the data to direct-marketing organizations.
• Kingston Technologies Inc., informed 27,000 customers of a data breach that took place in September 2005.
• Law enforcement agents arrested a subcontractor working for Alta Resources, a company that processes and fulfills orders for the Disney Movie Club when the subcontractor sold them credit card numbers and other account information belonging to an unknown number of customers.
• AT&T's online store was hacked and personal data stolen from approximately 19,000 customers.
• Monster.com was hacked and the confidential information of 1.3 million job seekers was stolen.
• A safe stolen from the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists contained personal information on thousands of hair stylists in West Virginia.
• Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had a data breach compromising the personal details of up to 34,000 employees.
• Personal records of more than 35,000 Ex-Prisoners of War and their families were stolen from the offices of a P.O.W support organization in Texas.
• A hacker posted the personal contact information and credit card data of 1,200 eBay users on the company’s Trust & Safety forums. The posts were removed promptly by eBay.
• Online brokerage firm TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. reported that one of its databases was hacked and personal information from more than 6.3 million customers was stolen.
• An employee of Certegy Check Services compromised the privacy of up to 8.5 million of its clients customers. Certegy clients include major retail stores among them Amazon.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, OfficeMax, T.J. Maxx, and Sears. It is reported that the records were sold for marketing purposes rather than for identity theft.
• 12,000 Clients of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennesse between 1990 and 2004 may have had confidential lab information exposed when hackers sent phony e-mails whose attachments when opened allowed hackers to access the lab’s computer.
• Clients of Salesforce.com who were on an exposed contact list continued to receive phishing e-mails that may download key loggers. Key loggers if downloaded to your computer allow a hacker to record every keystroke you enter.
• The state of Massachusetts warned 150,000 members of its Prescription Advantage Insurance program that their personal information may have been stolen by an identity thief who has been caught and had already used a small number of peoples information. It is unclear whether the personal information of all 150,000 members has been compromised but state law requires that everyone who may possibly have been affected to be notified.

Identity theft is a growing concern and hackers from all over the world are targeting the U.S.A. and their intentions are to steal as much money as possible from Americans and the American economy. It is almost impossible to catch these hackers let alone prosecute them as they are protected by the countries and groups that support them. Everyone knows hackers and thieves can steal their information but did you know how often it happens. The list above is public knowledge, what about those who don't report their system being hacked or don't even know that it was hacked. Those who we entrust to protect our information have to become more vigilant in protecting the data they hold. I am also concerned with the stereotype that identity theft victims are tricked or fall for something that most people believe will not happen to them. Americans have to educate each other about phishing, key loggers, email scams, unsolicited phone calls, and most importantly keeping our private data private. We must also realize that most identity theft victims became victims through no fault of their own. Take action now by protecting yourself with one of the best identity theft protection programs available.

Save 10% on LoudSiren (Debix) the lowest allowable rate

Save 10% on LifeLock the lowest allowable rate

LifeLock has launched an addition to their service that has great potential - and at no additional cost!

WalletLock will be offered as a new addition to the standard LifeLock Identity Theft Protection plan.

The new service will provide assistance to subscribers who experience a stolen purse or lost wallet. The service will have experts available 24/7 to help victims with reporting and replacement of many items and documents, including:

• Credit Cards
• ATM Cards
• Debit Cards
• Driver's License
• Social Security Cards
• Insurance Cards (Health, Auto, etc.)
• Professional Licenses and Certificates
• Passport
• Immigration documents
• Owner's Checkbook
• Traveler's checks

This certainly seems to be a major increase in overall value for
LifeLock subscribers. One thing is clear though - having a detailed list of what is actually in your wallet or purse will give you a huge jump start in the recovery process, see our previous post on lost wallets and stolen purses for more information.

The launch comes at a time when many LifeLock subscribers will be deciding if they should continue their annual subscriptions. Additional, no charge, upgrades like this will make it an easy decision.

LifeLock CEO Todd Davis put it this way - "If you have ever had your wallet stolen or lost, you understand the panic and anger you feel, not to mention, how much time it takes to cancel and replace the important items. It’s frustrating and completely unnecessary. By adding WalletLock to our service we have found another way to help lift the burden that surrounds identity theft.
If a wallet is lost or stolen, WalletLock will provide the complete recovery services necessary to allow our client to go on with their
lives and not spend hours on the phone."

Once we fully understand the details of the WalletLock service we will likely add it to our Lifelock review and comparison chart. In the mean time keep it in mind as a definite plus for the LifeLock team. And why not save 17.5% right here at IdentityTheftLabs.com? You will get the same discounted rate every year plus you get the first 30 days free.

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Save 10% on LoudSiren Debix

LifeLock continues to impress. Today LifeLock's CEO Todd Davis rolled out another marketing win. PostalAnnex+ has over 300 retail outlets nationwide that will now offer LifeLock Identity Theft Protection Service as part of their portfolio.

First news of the announcement was posted on BusinessWire.com earlier today. The most interesting part of the press release is some of the Identity Theft statistics that are called out. Some are a bit dated, but still relevant -this section especially:

In February, the Federal Trade Commission released its annual report highlighting that for the seventh consecutive year, identity theft tops the list of consumer complaints. In 2006, identity theft cost Americans $1.1 billion dollars, the highest amount ever. A multi-billion dollar crime, identity theft is non-discriminatory, hitting Americans in every age range from infants to seniors. Since January 2005, more than 110 million Americans have received letters notifying them that their personal information has been lost or stolen.

We checked the PostalAnnex+ site and have not found any additional details. As far as we know the LifeLock Discount we offer at IdentityTheftLabs.com is still the best.

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For months we have been hearing about LifeLock's $1 Million guarantee. Recently, Debix and LoudSiren have stepped up to address this for all of their customers. The new updates are impressive, clearly meant to match and then exceed the LifeLock offering.

The LoudSiren (Powered by Debix) plan now offers the following protections should you ever have a identity theft issue:

1. A $25,000 AIG Personal Internet & Identity Coverage policy.
2. Additional $1 Million dollar guarantee.

All the details are available at LoudSiren.com.

This is another case where LifeLock's commitment to high end consumer direct marketing has resulted in better programs for consumers. Regardless of which program you choose these guarantees and insurance plans should more than cover you in the remote possibility that you become a victim of identity theft while enrolled in one of these identity protection plans.

It will be interesting to see if LifeLock will add an insurance program to their current guarantee.

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Save 10% on LifeLock today

Correspondent Lesley Stahl on CBS 60 Minutes reminds us yet again how easily our identities are compromised.
In her report Stahl focuses on the T.J. Maxx breach that happened over a year ago, which is not news. The real news is that her reports indicate that hackers can collect and sell personal identity information as easily today as back in 2005!

The article and videos are well done and worth a review, even if just as a reminder to use caution during this high volume shopping season.

We would reiterate our fairly simple plan to reduce your risk:

1. Get identity theft protection from Debix, TrustedID or LifeLock

2. Protect your personal information from prying eyes

3. Avoid the use of debit cards because most lack fraud protection

There is much more information on this site, our recent post about online shopping tips is a good place to start, but these simple steps will go a long way.

Save 10% on Debix

Save 10% on LifeLock

Brad Stone, in an article just published in the International Herald Tribune indicates some very key investors have picked Debix as their "top dog" in the Identity Theft space. Mr. Stone even tells the story of one investor Gideon Yu (former CFO of YouTube) who personally experienced Identity Theft…and is now backing Debix.

So as consumers, we ask why Debix?

The short answer seems to be a technology. (though we did not verify this directly with Mr. Yu)

Debix offers some leading edge technology that is often overlooked, or perhaps washed out by the high profile marketing by LifeLock. Even the newest addition TrustedID, lines up behind Debix from a technology perspective.

Let's strip away the marketing for a minute and look at the technology again, and why you should care:

All three companies set your Fraud Alerts at the major credit agencies, TrustedID will even set a Freeze if you want to totally lock things up. All three will insure that the Alerts are reset every 90 days as required.

The difference starts right here -

LifeLock and TrustedID install your phone number into the appropriate places and then presumably check to be sure the Alerts are set - this is great and provides ok ID Theft coverage. If someone tries to open a line of credit in your name, the financial institutions are expected to call your number to confirm. If you have changed your number, or a thief actually has your phone at the time of the credit application, this system can fail - granted, LifeLock's $1 Million guarantee will be more than enough to cover you, but the fact is, your identity can still be compromised.

Debix takes this to a whole new level - Debix LoudSiren actually places a special phone number in your credit file that rings into the Debix technology, the Debix system then instantly and automatically calls the first number on the contact list you provided at registration, if there is no answer it tries a second, and a third number to reach you. But that's not all, once the Debix system reaches you, it plays a prerecorded message in your own voice! AND asks you to enter a PIN! Do you see the key differences here?

• Your personal phone numbers are not exposed in your credit file.
• Debix will try up to three different numbers to contact you.
• You will know it's a valid call from Debix, because it's your voice.
• Finally, you need to enter your PIN, so even the crook with your cell phone is out of luck.

This is 2-3 layered protection, and it's also technology with a high "cool factor" with a variety of potential uses.

Kind of a long winded post - but we really want our readers to appreciate the differences, and understand them clearly before selecting an Identity Protection Program.

Oh - and forget the prices mentioned in the article - we have arranged discounts that will get you a year of either Debix (LoudSiren) or LifeLock at well under $100!

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