08/10/2015 By: Mark Pribish, Special for The Arizona Republic, August 7, 2015, used by permission of the author I feel compelled to write about what
credit monitoring does and doesn't do to protect us after reading new
information outlining how companies that are breached and then offer credit
monitoring can give customers a false sense of security. Even the best ID-theft protection
companies still leave you vulnerable because what they largely provide is an after-the-fact
“defense.” The first article, titled “Does free credit monitoring
do more ‘harm’ than good?” tells about how
companies and organizations are driven by a host of legal, ethical, and public
relations considerations when offering credit monitoring and identity
protection services to preserve or win back loyalty by demonstrating the
company's commitment to its customers or employees. The second article you need to know
about is titled “Holes in the fence of
identity-theft protection” and discusses how
your personal financial information “can’t be completely protected.” In fact, the potential for identity
theft lasts forever. Regardless of how long you may be provided free
identity-theft protection as a result of a data breach event, your information
can still be misused for eternity (even after your death, as I’ve written about
previously). I do applaud organizations that are
doing more for their customers in the ID-theft arena, and they know it's
strategically smart too. Let me spotlight Blue Cross Blue Shield’s
July 14 announcement that each of its 36
affiliated Blues plans will begin offering free identity-protection services to
their 106 million individual members for as long as they're enrolled in the
plans' insurance coverage. However, based on the Office of
Personnel Management massive hack of security-clearance information, credit
bureau monitoring is not going to help those individuals where non-financial
information was stolen and can be used against them. Non-financial ID-theft
involves 70 percent of all ID-theft victims, according to the FTC. Maybe the real question should be:
Should the U.S. government offer free identity-theft protection to all
citizens? Consider:
Think about the following statement:
“Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to free identity theft
protection.” Mark's most
important: Credit bureau monitoring
sounds good, but beware of the limitations. Understand that once your personal
information is lost or stolen, your risk of ID theft is forever. Mark Pribish is vice president and ID-theft practice leader at Merchants Information Solutions Inc., an ID theft-background screening company based in Phoenix. |