LifeLock Promo Code – 9

Inc. magazine publishes an Annual Inc. 500 list every year. They ranked LifeLock as #8 in 2010 on their list of the US's fastest growing private companies. And even better, LifeLock has been recognized as the #1 in the Inc. 500's Security category.

The growth required from LifeLock to receive this status is a result of the confidence that its current members and potential members have in LifeLock to relentlessly help protect them from identity theft.

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No one is immune to identity theft. Rich – poor – famous – ordinary. We all are vulnerable to having our personal information stolen at any time no matter how much care we take to safeguard ourselves.

One of the ways that we are the most exposed is from data or security breaches. In so many instances, we've given our DOB and SSN along with address, spouse, children, insurance cards and more. Identity thieves know this and have made a point to target databases that contain large numbers of people.

Watching a trend from the PrivacyRights.org database of breaches, educational institutions, hospitals, insurance companies, banks and government agencies are tops on the list of security breaches. Many times its from something as careless as a laptop being taken home and just left sitting in the open. Other times, there's an insider employee who creates the leak. Or it can just simply be by throwing files in a dumpster.

One of the kickers is that the breach isn't even noticed right away.

Once your personal information is in the hands of criminals, it's going to sold and resold over and over again. You'll never know if or when you'll be attacked next.

I've personally had my identity stolen in 2002 and didn't even know it until I applied for a new mortgage in 2003. Up until then, no one talked much about fraud alerts, checking your credit reports or looking for your information being sold online. It didn't matter that my credit score was tanked by someone else – banks just looked at the score and turned me down or offered a loan with a higher interest rate.

When identity theft protection companies like LifeLock were created, I jumped on that boat right away.  I know this sounds like a cliche, but knowing I have someone watching out for me really does give me peace of mind.

Blog identity theft, Identity Theft Protection, lifelock, security breach

Reader's Digest Association (RDA) has partnered with LifeLock Identity Theft Services to help safeguard their reader's identities.

RDA has long been known for high quality educational content. They have chosen LifeLock to help their readers learn more about identity theft and ways to protect their personal information.

The dangers of identity theft are increasing as more and more tech savvy criminals continue to invent new ways to steal information from us – physically and electronically.

There are many things we can do to protect ourselves and the first step is to be aware of how to start. Our personal information is required in many places and transactions now. We all need to stay at least a step or two ahead of the crooks who are getting bolder and more inventive all the time.

LifeLock is the industry leader in identity theft protection. They work to proactively help you protect your personal information even if it falls into the wrong hands.

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Congratulations all Facebook users! The amount your identity is worth has now doubled since we last wrote Your Identity Is Worth About 40 Bucks.

VeriSign's ID Defense unit has found an underground hacker forum offering Facebook accounts for around $25 each if you have 10 contacts or less. But if you've got more than 10 'friends', your account value jumps to about $45.

Ok, all kidding aside, that is a very serious situation because over 700,000 accounts have been sold. and 1.5 million are on the market. FB has admitted the hacked accounts are being used in many schemes including money transfer scams. Facebook just isn't very secure and all the activities we like to do on it make us more vulnerable. Even if you're very careful, a careless friend can accidentally expose your info.

Here are five dangers lurking on FB according to Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO Online.

1. Your information is being shared with third parties
2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign
3. Facebook ads may contain malware
4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable
5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

The US government run Internet Crime Complaint Center says in 2009, 336,655 complaints were received and that year's dollar loss was $559,700,000. That's over 559 million dollars. That's a lot and the amount more than doubled from 2008's loss of $264.6 million.

Identity theft protection has never been more important than it is in today's electronic, ultra-connected world. Whether you choose to DIY and place your free fraud alerts or become a member of LifeLock, do it now before you have a problem.

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WalletLock is a service offered by LifeLock that takes the time, panic and hassle out of a lost or stolen wallet. It comes included in your membership.

This is one of those really good ideas someone had that's actually available to us!

Imagine looking for your wallet or purse and it's no where to be found. You don't know if you lost it or if someone stole it. It's full of your personal information: driver's license, credit card, debit card, health insurance card, student id card, passport card, social security card, check book… Well, you get the picture – and it's a total disaster.

The good folks at LifeLock came up with a great solution that makes it a lot easier to deal with this mess. The solution is WalletLock.

The first thing you need to do right now is to download the WalletLock pdf file and fill it out. It's a record of the things you carry in your wallet including account numbers.

Put this form in a separate, safe place – like NOT in your wallet or purse.

If your wallet is stolen, call LifeLock at 1-800-LIFELOCK (543-3562) and tell them what happened and have your WalletLock sheet that you filled out handy. A certified Recovery Specialist will help you:

• Contact each credit card company while you're on the phone
• Cancel the lost cards, licenses and documents
• Fill out the paperwork to request replacements
• Start a fraud affidavit and police reports

There's nothing quite like having a calm expert to hold your hand while you go through this. Now go have a cup of tea and relax.

Blog lost wallet, stolen wallet, WalletLock

We've reported before on what your identity is worth to a thief. The going rate seems to be about $40. That's forty lousy bucks to someone who sells them wholesale. How much time is it going to cost you to repair it?

We're not even going to mention the emotional costs… or the hidden cost of ruined credit.

That $40 was what identity thieves recently got for the names, SSN and DOB for 16 employees at Logan International Airport in Boston. The information was stolen by an employee who worked there. She then gave it to her aunt and uncle. What a nice family they must be.

No matter what you do or how careful you are to protect yourself, you can still become a victim of identity theft through no fault of your own. Your information is in databases all around the country in some form or another. Just think of everywhere you've ever had to fill out forms that asked for your social security number and date of birth.

The best way to protect yourself in the 21st century is to use an identity theft protection company to help keep you safe. There's no way you can absolutely protect yourself and no company can do it, either. But in today's electronic world, you need someone to watch your credit files and personal information and give you an early alert whenever your identity is used fraudulently.

Blog identity theft

There's no shortage of security and data breaches happening. PrivacyRights.org reports on them and it's just plain scary on how our personal information can land in an identity thief's hands.

Here's a report from their website from January 30, 2010 on a breach that happened recently:

A man had a job at Ameriquest Mortgage Company for about 6 weeks. He was a mortgage associate and helped people get loans. He managed to get himself paid pretty well for those six weeks of work: he stole the identities of almost 100 people by using the personal info from mortgage applications.

This guy was able to make off with more than $150,000 from at least 8 banks. He created fraudulent ID's and checks with the stolen information. Then he got cash and services as well as going on a spending spree buying things.

With one of the victim's info, he got a credit card through a bank in the United States. Using that card, he withdrew $30,529.63 in cash from ATM machines scattered through Minnesota.

How long do you think it's going to take to clear the name of the poor soul who had the 30 grand stolen? I'd sure hate to be in his shoes. I'd be willing to be that thief had himself a pretty big TV for the Superbowl game.

Blog identity theft, security breach

Children's identities are stolen more often than you might think. It's a popular item for an identity thief because it tends to go unnoticed for a long period of time. You rarely think to check your child's credit report.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that 5% of all reported identity theft involves a minor child. Just think about where you've given your children's social security number and dates of birth. How about these as a starter:

• At their school
• Doctor's offices
• Your income tax returns
• Online profiles at Social Networking sites

Thieves can open credit card accounts, bank accounts, cell phones, utilities and even apply for a job using your child's info. Imagine getting a nasty-gram from the IRS addressed to your child saying they owe back taxes on unreported income!

Here's What LifeLock Does to Protect Your Children

• LifeLock Identity Alert™ system provides early notification by email, postal mail, and/or phone whenever they detect your child’s personal information being used to apply for credit or services.
• Request your child's free annual credit report with the added security feature of having a partially masked social security number.
• Send you a yearly form to request a copy of your child's Earnings Report from the Social Security Administration. You have to send the actual form yourself because there will be info on it only you can access.
• WalletLock protection for your child in case their wallet or purse is stolen or lost.

To get protection for your child's identity, add them on as a dependent to your personal membership for only $2.25 a month or $22.50 yearly when you use the promo code – 9.

Trying to deal with child identity theft after it happens is frustrating and difficult. Don't let your child start off life with a ruined name. Protect them today.

Blog child identity theft, LifeLock for kids

In their continuing effort to provide the best identity protection, LifeLock has hired a former White House lawyer as their general counsel to it's executive leadership team. Clarissa Cerda served as assistant counsel to President Clinton.

I'm glad to see that LifeLock continues to take our identity protection seriously by keeping their company well-stocked with such knowledgable people. Just knowing that so many people who are way smarter than me are looking after my personal identity keeps me happy. Keep up the good work, LifeLock!

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Have you gotten a letter telling you that your personal information has been stolen in a security breach? If you have, you're not alone. Identity thieves are at it again and have managed to hack into computers at the FAA – Federal Aviation Administration. They got 45,000+ employee information including social security numbers.

That's serious.

I hate to think that such a high profile government site could be hacked, but that just shows you how sophisticated identity theft has become. This feels like a sub-plot from the TV show '24'.

Some of the employees have said they immediately signed up with LifeLock.

I imagine all the employees will get some kind of free credit monitoring because that's the usual type of 'protection' given to most victims of a data/security breach. The problem with that is you'll only get an alert after someone uses your information. Then, you're on your own to fix it.

LifeLock's services are pro-active and help to prevent someone from using your information. If a thief did manage to steal your identity, LifeLock will fix the problem for you. For me, that's the biggest appeal of their coverage. I have enough going on in my life to keep track of without having to worry about fixing identity theft.

At the very least, all FAA employees should immediately put a fraud alert on their credit files. It's free and easy. Just contact one of the credit bureaus and they will contact the other two about it. A security freeze is more secure than a fraud alert but it's not free and can be difficult to use if you'll be wanting to open any new lines of credit or even change cell phone carriers.

The difference between a fraud alert and a security freeze.

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