LifeLock Ultimate: Well Worth the $$$
Anyone watching the news or checking magazine articles will understand that cybercrime is the new wave of this era. I don't think that it really comes home to a full understanding until you have either had your identity stolen or known someone else who has.
We have had TWO close friends who have been unfortunate enough to have that experience. It was a complete nightmare for both of them. Not only is it a hassle to get new driver's licenses, checkbooks, and other documents, but you are constantly reminded that your identity has been taken when new charges keep appearing on credit cards, new accounts are being opened in your name, and you spend half of your life on the telephone letting creditors know that the charges are NOT yours.
To top that, our friends spent well in excess of $15,000 to have their good name restored, and in one case, credit was ruined for several years despite the fact that it wasn't their fault.
I think that for the longest time we have had a false sense of security in trusting that companies in charge of keeping our data safe are doing their jobs. As someone who has studied network administration and read countless articles, I have had little trust for many companies including Fortune 500s. There was an article several years ago in PC Magazine that told of a consultant who was hired by major companies (including banks and credit card companies) to try and hack into their systems and steal customer information. Many were well guarded. However, there were an alarming number of companies that were a breeze to hack networks.
When an administrator sets up a new network, there is an 'admin' account that allows the IT person access to the local network and all resources. When the software is installed, the default password is "password". It is the FIRST duty of a competent network admin to change that password IMMEDIATELY to a preferably 12-character password that utilizes capital and lowercase letters, numbers and wildcards ($#*!)@ - to name a few). Some of the above-mentioned companies had never changed that password, thereby leaving their networks (and their sensitive data) ripe for the picking.
Just in the past year, Experian credit reporting agency was hacked and tens of thousands of consumers' personal data was compromised. The real joke was that they sent letters out to the unfortunate clients offering them one year free credit protection through the very company that lost their data!
We have had LifeLock Ultimate protection now for the past several years. Yes, it's a little pricey because, in the case of a married couple, each person has his/her own account. But when you consider the cost of cleaning up a destroyed identity, it is a small price to pay.
LifeLock not only protects credit cards, personal information and the like, but they offer up to one million dollars in legal fees to clear your name IF your identity is stolen under their watch.
How have they performed for us? We were amazed at the speed of notification when something questionable arises. When we opened a new account to secure a car loan, I received a text message, a cellphone call, a home landline call, and an email from LifeLock within TWO MINUTES of the dealership running a credit check in our names! That was impressive.
We also receive monthly reports with our current credit scores, names of child predators who have moved in our vicinity, and any warnings that our data has been leaked on the dark web so we can take steps to change passwords.
I highly recommend anyone to take a long and hard look at LifeLock and consider signing up for their service. We have been so pleased with their performance and, even though nothing in this life is 100% sure, we are very confident that our private information is protected.
Another Tip from Jeff: If your home mortgage is paid off, consider opening a small Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC). This places a lien on your property and prevents unscrupulous people from attempting to sell your home from under you. This happened to a friend of ours!
DISLAIMER: I certify that I was NOT paid, endorsed, or compensated in any way by LifeLock to write this article.