Lifelock or TrustedID:Which Service Is Right For You?

Updated July 19, 2010

• Read our detailed Lifelock review
• Read our detailed TrustedID review

We live in a world of uncertainty, and more and more people are becoming concerned about the safety of their identities. We also have more choices than ever before and it can be confusing trying to determine what you need to protect yourself and which product will offer you the greatest security.

If you’ve done any research at all then you’ve come across some experts recommending Lifelock and others TrustedID. Both identity theft services have recently introduced upgraded and improved versions of their flagship protection plans. Lifelock launched Command Center™ last December and TrustedID introduced IDEssentials™ in July of this year.

As the identity fraud protection industry has evolved, many popular services have moved toward a monitoring detection type service. This is an admission in the industry that complete identity protection is virtually impossible. Tech savvy identity thieves can hack into databases and steal millions of records without anybody realizing it.

Both Lifelock and TrustedID understand this and have taken a very similar approach to identity theft protection. We’ll expose some of the similarities as well as differences between these two popular services.

	Command Center	IDEssentials
Price	$13.50/month	$10.42/month
Promotion	30 Days Free & 10% Off	15 Days Free Trial
Coverage	$1 Million Total Service Guarantee	$1,000,000 Service Warranty
Protection Type	Fraud Alerts/Scanning	Fraud Alerts/Credit Monitoring
Credit Monitoring	No	Instant 3 Bureau Report
Credit Reports	Annually Major Bureaus
Credit Score	No
Family Plan	No
Credit Freezes	No
Anit-Virus/ Spyware	No
Sex offender Reports		No
PayDay Loans	No

How are Lifelock and Trusted ID Similar?

• Opt-out of pre-approved credit offers
• Have a $1,000,000 warranty
• Fraud Alerts (Called ‘Lender DoubleCheck’ by TrustedID)
• Order yearly credit reports
• Wallet protection
• Scan internet black markets looking for misuse of your information
• 24/7 on call helpline

Both LifeLock and Trusted ID will remove you from junk mail lists and place fraud alerts on your behalf. They will also scan the internet for your information on the web. They look for your date of birth, address and social security number and notify you immediately if any activity is found with your information attached to it. With Trusted ID you can even ask them to watch for your bank account and credit card number.

Both services also offer wallet protection which can give you some small sense of security when your wallet is gone. Having someone to call and help you take the necessary steps to replace your license, insurance cards, and other forms of ID as well as helping you with canceling and replacing your credit and debit cards can be a great comfort.As you can see, both LifeLock and Trusted ID offer very similar coverage and have very similar basic features.

How Do Lifelock and Trusted ID Differ?

• Read our detailed Lifelock review
• Read our detailed Trusted ID review

Credit Report Monitoring

With the introduction of IDEssentials, TrustedID added credit monitoring of your report and score with all three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. TrustedID will scan your reports daily and alert you if they detect any fraudulent or suspicious activity. Lifelock does not offer credit monitoring.

Credit Freezes

Like Lifelock, Trusted ID sets and renews fraud alerts every ninety days. What sets TrustedID apart is the option to place credit freezes on your credit file, a far more secure measure of protection. (Read our article on Fraud Alerts vs Credit Freezes for more information) While you can do this yourself, having a service perform this for you can come in handy when you can’t remember your PIN number.

Personal Information Scanning

Lifelock recently launched their Command Center which actively monitors unregulated internet and file sharing networks for your personal information. In addition they scan payday loans, sex offender registries, and other public records to find your information. If they find it, they’ll alert you by email and help protect you against accidental information disclosures.

Anti Virus Protection

Trusted ID also keeps an eye on your computer, giving you an anti-spyware program that can be installed on as many as three computers. An unsecured computer is at high risk for hackers, spyware and viruses, and a good protection program can cost you as much as $100 a year. With trusted ID, not only does this software automatically update every day, it is given to you at no charge so long as you have an account with Trusted ID. This benefit almost pays for the cost of protection itself.

Lost Wage Coverage

Probably the greatest difference between LifeLock and Trusted ID is in the fine print of their identity theft insurance guarantees. While both claim to have $1,000,000 policies, they cover very different things. According to the non profit Identity Theft Resource Center, the primary financial loss of identity theft victims are the lost wages involved when they need to spend 30-60 hours contacting their financial institutions and clearing up their credit.

Unfortunately, Lifelock’s policy does not cover lost wages while Trusted ID offers an industry best $5,000 /4weeks. Most of Lifelock’s coverage is for hiring attorneys and investigators to “clear your good name”, something most cases of identity theft probably don’t require. Most victims of identity theft do need to spend countless hours calling their credit card companies and filling out fraud affidavits. Trusted ID will reimburse you for this time while Lifelock will not. You can read more about Identity Theft Insurance here.

Family Coverage

Another large difference is family coverage. Lifelock doesn’t offer any discounts to cover your spouse, elderly grand parents and charges $25/year to cover minor children. Trusted ID covers the entire household living under one roof for less than the cost another policy.

To illustrate the wide disparity in cost; for a family of 2 adults and two minor children, the cost of protection for Lifelock would be $347/year ($148.50 for each adult and $25 for each child). Trusted ID’s coverage would only be $240.00 These are advertised prices and if you use any of our links, you’ll receive significant discounts.

Large families need family pricing

For a larger family, the price differences are more dramatic. For the same family living with two grandparents, the Lifelock plan would cost $643/year and TrustedID would be unchanged at $240.00/year (provided all the adults are part of the same household). Anyway you look at it, these are significant savings.

If you’re known to the public as “octomom” or your last name is “Duggar”, then it’s really a no-brainer. If the Octomom were covered by Lifelock, she would need to pay $348.50 while the near identical coverage from TrustedID would be $240.00.

The Duggar family from Discover Channel fame would pay $747 for their 18 children with Lifelock and with TrustedID, you guessed it, $240.00. I sense a sponsorship deal here somewhere.

These may be extreme examples but a large majority of victims come from families and it certainly makes sense to protect the identities of those you care about.

Our Opinion

LifeLock and Trusted ID both have reputations of stability and trustworthiness, and in the end both of them are good choices to help protect you from identity theft. We feel that TrustedID edges out Lifelock as a service that offers more for less.

In addition to almost everything Lifelock offers, with Trusted ID, you have the option to place credit freezes, free virus /spyware protection for your computers, credit monitoring, your credit score, medical benefits review, and when looking to add a child, spouse, or grandparent to your coverage, TrustedID has the best pricing available.

Lifelock did pioneer the entire identity protection industry and was the first to offer a million dollar warranty but the value in TrustedID’s offerings is just to strong to ignore. It’s almost like TrustedID was designed to imitate Lifelock, offer more, and then charge less.

Before making a final decision take the time to ask what services are important to you. How much coverage do you need, and how many people in your house do you need to protect? Both LifeLock and Trusted ID are companies with good reputations who will help protect you from identity theft and, should the worst happen, help you regain your identity and your credit.

• Visit Lifelock 10% Discount and 30 Days Free
• Visit Trusted ID 15 Days Free Trial

Will The Best Identity Theft Service Please Stand Up?

This is a comparison between the flagship services of Lifelock and Identity Guard: Lifelock’s Command Center and Identity Guard’s Total Protection.

One reason we won the cold war was we simply outspent the Soviet Union. There was no way centralized planning could keep up with a capitalist economy. Things like tanks, ships, and fighter jets are notoriously expensive to buy and maintain and the Soviet Union literally bankrupt themselves trying to keep up.

Identity Guard and especially Lifelock have taken the United States playbook and must be outspending their competition at some obscene ratio. Their advertisements are everywhere: on the web, television, print media, and on the radio. One of the likely reasons you’ve found this page is you’re considering an identity theft service and have heard about Lifelock or Identity Guard. That’s the power of branding.

Lifelock introduced Command Center in December 2009 amid much fanfare and it’s a much needed upgrade from their original service. Lifelock will now scan public databases, court records, and even sex offender registry reports for your information. With this new service Lifelock is essentially admitting that’s it’s near impossible to prevent identity theft and instead focuses on an early warning system to prevent the theft from getting beyond your control to resolve it.

Identity Guard of course has been singing this tune all along. While Lifelock probably has more brand recognition, Identity Guard from Intersections Inc. has been successfully fighting identity theft for more than 14 years for some of the biggest names in financial services. So how do these two detection services compare?

	Command Center	Total Protection
Price	$15/month	$17.99month
Promotion	30 Days Free & 15% Off	30 Days Free
3 Bureau Credit Score	No
Monitors Equifax Report	No
Monitors Experian Report	No
Monitors TransUnion Report	No
Anit-Virus Spyware	No
Protects Address
Scans For SSN
Scans For Credit Cards
Scans For Bank Account Information
Scans For Payday Loan Activity
Sex Offender Registry Reports
Public Records
Court Records
Guarantee	$1 Million Total Service Guarantee	$1 Million Loss Reimbursement

So Why Doesn’t Lifelock Offer Credit Monitoring?

While it’s true that identity theft occurs beyond your credit report, experts agree the best way to detect identity theft is through monitoring your credit report. So why does Lifelock leave this important feature out? Only Lifelock knows but I’d hazard a guess it has something to with the costs involved. Identity Guard pays the three major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) for access to the credit reports. Somebody in Lifelock’s management decided to pursue detection technology outside your credit report.

It’s not hard to understand the strategic thinking behind this decision. This way Lifelock isn’t beholden to the credit reporting agencies it has a somewhat fractious relationship with and can offer consumers services unique to Lifelock.

But by not offering credit monitoring services is Lifelock shortchanging their customers? I think so. Do you think an identity thief will be better detected by monitoring court records and sex offender registry reports or by the daily monitoring of all three credit reports? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Lifelock

• Read our detailed Lifelock review

Lifelock initiates fraud alerts on your behalf with all 3 major credit bureaus. Fraud alerts require creditors to confirm your identity by phoning to verify the request for credit. The weakness in this type of plan is threefold.

• First, even if fraud alerts were a surefire way to protect against identity fraud, it only protects you against the opening of new accounts. What about your existing accounts? If you lose your wallet, the identity thief will have access to your identification card, home address, and other information.
• Second, fraud alerts are not fool proof. Creditors have and will continue to extend credit without checking your credit file. According to the advocacy group Consumer Action, fraud alerts are only effective in about 75 percent of the cases. The only way to restrict access to your credit file is with a credit freeze, something LifeLock does not do.
• Third and most importantly, your information is already out there. You can take every precaution in the book but what happens to your auto loan application after you fill it out? How about your mortgage application or that new credit card? The truth is, you actually have very little control over the access to your own private identifying information. Fraud alerts won’t protect you.

Identity Guard

• Read our detailed Identity Guard review

Identity Guard doesn’t offer fraud alerts. Maybe it’s because they believe they’re not effective or its incredible easy to set up yourself – for whatever reason Identity Guard focuses entirely on monitoring your credit report in near real time. You have UNLIMITED access to not only your credit report but your credit score as well. In addition to all this, Identity Guard offers a host of products that depending on your tech level, may offer incredible value. To somebody like myself who’s always online, I find the additional features like ID Vault®, Mobile Lockbox®, and ZoneAlarm® incredibly useful but to someone who’s not technically inclined – these features would be of limited value.

Opinion

Lifelock built its entire protection service around placing and renewing fraud alerts. Lifelock was doing this when nobody else was and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Lifelock should be flattered. There are numerous companies that imitate what Lifelock does. They were also the first to offer a million dollar guarantee which everybody also copied. Throw in a CEO who publicly announces his social security number in the press and dares identity thieves to steal it, and it’s no wonder Lifelock is the market leader. Lifelock has brilliant marketing and it resonates with consumers. But while all this may sound lovely at a shareholder meeting, is it truly effective? Is it better than credit monitoring?

If it’s Lifelock or nothing, by all means choose Lifelock. Get some measure of protection for your identity. But if its a choice between fraud alerts and credit monitoring? I choose credit monitoring. There is simply no way to guarantee the security of your personal information. Monitoring your credit file daily for any changes is the best way to protect your identity, your property, and your life.

Visit Lifelock for more information.

Visit IdentityGuard for more information

IDENTITY GUARD® Total ProtectionSM, The Cadillac Of Identity Theft Protection

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Identity Guard should consider itself flattered. Not too long ago, before consumer lawsuits forced Lifelock to change its business model, companies like Lifelock centered their identity protection strategies around placing and renewing fraud alerts.

Now while studies show that fraud alerts can help secure access to your credit file, nobody will argue that it’s a foolproof way to prevent identity theft. In fact, a significant amount of fraud occurs with unauthorized access to existing accounts, something fraud alerts and credit locks will do absolutely nothing to prevent. Despite all the marketing you might see or hear, there is no way to completely safeguard you from identity fraud.

Identity Guard understands this and focuses all their resources into creating an advanced credit monitoring service. Unlike Lifelock or other competitors, you have unlimited online access to credit report monitoring and your credit score. There are many other cool features to Identity Guard’s Total Protection like IDVault® and MOBILE LOCKBOX® which will have technophiles smiling but the core of their service is the advanced public database scanning and credit monitoring system.

How Do They Protect You?

Personal Identity Dashboard

• Daily Credit Application Scanning

Identity Guard uses a proprietary system to regularly scan credit application databases for fraudulently submitted credit applications in your name.

• Quarterly Access To Credit File Score

Every three months you will receive to your credit file score with all 3 credit reporting agencies. In addition Identity Guard will monitor your credit file score daily with all three credit bureaus for maximum security and will email you if there are any changes to your credit file score.

• Scans Internet

Monitors internet black market sites where personal data is bought and sold for your personal information. You will be alerted promptly if any of your information is compromised.

• ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite

ZoneAlarm is an award winning security software which includes anti-virus, spyware, firewall, spam blocking, and stealth mode all which will greatly reduce the risk of personal; information hijacking on the internet. You will receive the software and updates free during the life of your subscription.

• PRIVACYPROTECT™

PRIVACYPROTECT™ is anti-key logging software which will encrypt every keystroke while you browse the internet to prevent identity thieves from recording your passwords.

• MOBILE LOCKBOX™

This is an innovative product from Identity Guard which will allow you to remotely secure your sensitive information, personal records, and important financial documents on Identity Guard’s servers. All this information will be available to you anywhere anytime via your web-enabled cell phone, PDA, or computer.

• Lost Wallet Protection

Identiy Guard will assist you in canceling all your credit card accounts plus give you access to $2,000 emergency cash from your account.

• $1,000,000 Identity Theft *Insurance

This policy is underwritten by Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America and covers expenses related to recovering from an identity theft including wage losses.

• ID Valut

ID Vault looks like a USB memory stick, but its actually a key that padlocks your identity. It protects you against cyber criminals, spyware, and other tricks criminals use to steal your passwords or account numbers.

What Do They Do Better Than Anybody?

The proprietary technology behind some of the products available to Identity Guard separates it from most other identity theft protection companies. While other companies focus on fraud alerts and credit freezes, Identity Guard takes a different approach. Drawing from their years of experience working with top financial institutions, Intersections has developed a sophisticated consumer protection package centered around the Total Protection Dashboard which allows you to monitor your credit file score and your internet protection services.

Credit Monitoring

Fraud Alerts and Credit Freezes are like locking the door to your valuables. While this approach works well for preventing identity thieves from opening new lines of credit, it does very little to protect your existing accounts from fraud. Reviewing your credit file score annually may alert you to fraudulent activity but the damage to your credit and accounts will already have occurred.

Monitoring your credit file score daily, and alerting you to any changes by text message or email allows you to promptly detect any suspicious activity. The near real time monitoring of all your credit reports and credit score only enhances the careful eye Identity Guard keeps over you.

Internet Security

The award winning Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite along with PrivacyProtect provides you with first rate computer and internet security. Also, Identity Guard scans the internet’s financial black markets daily for your registered information, including Social Security Number, credit cards, and bank accounts.

PC Security

Features like PRIVACY PROTECT and IDVAULT makes your computer virtually impossible for hackers to steal information. No other identity protection service offers this level of sophisticated protection.

What Kind Of Customer Prefers This Service?

A tech savvy consumer who can appreciate the proprietary tools Identity Guard provides to greatly enhance the ability to monitor and control your credit file score. The additional first-rate computer and internet protection offers total protection where identity theft victims are most vulnerable, surfing the internet.

Why Should You Consider Anybody Else?

The absence of fraud alerts and credit freezes means your credit file score is as vulnerable as before. While Identity Guard believes the sophisticated credit monitoring services they employ would detect and minimize any fraud, some consumers would like the protection these tools were designed to provide. The use of fraud alerts and credit freezes are central parts of the theft protection strategies of companies like Lifelock, TrustedID, and Equifax.

ProtectMyID.com from Experian offers a more affordable version of three bureau credit monitoring. You can read a detailed ProtectMyID review here.

Give It To Me Straight

The question with Idenity Guard becomes one about credit monitoring versus fraud alerts. If you believe Lifelock’s commercials, the marketing message is fraud alerts are proactive and credit monitoring is reactive. But how proactive are they? Remember that fraud alerts and credit freezes on your file do nothing to protect your existing accounts. If an identity thief has secured enough vital information to open new accounts, doesn’t he have the ability to tamper with your existing accounts as well?

The advantages to be able to recognize and react quickly to any changes in your credit file score cannot be understated. Certainly Identity Guard provides a degree of monitoring and control over your information no other company offers. Add the plethora of additional useful products such as ID Vault, Privacy Protect, Mobile LockBox, and the award-winning Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite and you’re talking some serious value for the consumer. Personally, I prefer Identity Guard Total Protection and find all the products and features incredibly useful.

If Lifelock and TrustedID claim to lock the doors to your house with fraud alerts and credit freezes, even they’ll admit there are cracks in that door. Identity Guard may leave that door open, but they’re watching your back. If anybody comes in and they’ll text, phone, or email you if they see anything suspicious.

Try Identity Guard FREE For 30 Days

**Reimbursement will be provided by insurance carrier. Insurance underwritten by National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa. The description herein is a summary only. It does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for complete details of coverage and exclusions. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions and is subject to actual policy language.

DISCLAIMER: Intersections, IDENTITY GUARD, EXTRA CAUTION, PRIVACYPROTECT, MOBILE LOCKBOX and Total Protection are federally registered trademarks of Intersections Inc.

1. You will not be contacted by the IRS via email.
2. If you do receive an email claiming to originate from the IRS, it is a scam or “phishing” email. Forward it to phishing@irs.gov so that the IRS can track down the senders of these emails.
3. Not only emails, but also websites, are set up to look like IRS sites. If you visit a website that claims to be affiliated with the IRS, but the website address does not start with ‘www.irs.gov,’ do not enter any information. Instead, forward the link to phishing@irs.gov.
4. Learn how to identify a secure website. Many other sites, including those of your bank and other financial institutions, may be spoofed by a scammer looking to gain your personal information. Visit the FTC at www.onguardonline.gov/tools/recognize-secure-site-using-ssl.aspx to learn how to tell if you’re at the real website, or a spoof site.
5. Identity thieves gather your personal information in many ways. They may collect it through email, over the phone, by sifting through your garbage, or by posing as a tax collector.
6. Thieves may use your identity, including your social security number, to get a job.
7. If you receive notification from the IRS that more than one tax return was filed under your social security number, your identity may have been compromised. The same is true if you are notified that you were paid wages from an employer that is unfamiliar with you; someone may have used your social security number to gain employment. If you do receive an IRS letter in the mail, respond to it immediately.
8. If you have lost your wallet, noticed unauthorized credit card charges, there is an unknown account on your credit report, or there is any other reason to believe you are at risk of identity theft, contact the IRS to provide proof of your identity.
9. Do not routinely carry your social security card in your wallet. Though you’ll need it to start a new job or sign up for financial accounts, documents that display your Social Security number should be kept in a safe place.
10. To learn more about ID theft, search the IRS.gov website for “Identity Theft.” There you’ll find the IRS Identity Theft and Your Tax Records Page, which explains how to report identity theft and phishing attempts.

Though the real identity of the thief is still unknown, the surveillance cameras at the bank did get a good view of him. While the 78-year-old Bren has been described as “trim” and “dapper” by the Los Angeles Times, the thief was “balding, heavyset, and considerably younger.” When opening the bank account under Bren’s name, his occupation was listed as “smoke shop.” Investigators are now trying to find this man and track down the missing $1.1 million from Bren’s federal tax-refund check.

According to the authorities, Bren will not be liable for the missing check. The bank or its insurance will be covering the amount.

As it stands now, credit issuers have no way to determine how old the social security number might be. However, as Linda Foley, ITRC co-executive director points out, even this wouldn’t help, as a new number could have just been issued to an adult who recently gained citizenship; the issue date of a social security number does not necessarily correspond to the age of the person to which it belongs.

The system proposed by the ITRC to the Social Security Administration and Department of Justice would include the name, social security number, and date of birth for every minor. The purpose of this list would specifically be to avoid the issuing of credit under a social security number belonging to a child. This would prevent the theft of children’s social security numbers, as well as the issuing of credit to actual minors, who cannot legally sign a contract.

If this tool does become a reality, it would help protect children’s identities and social security numbers. This database has the potential to save hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars lost to identity fraud, said Foley.

The survey, part of ITRC’s effort to follow trends in “Consumer Concerns about Internet Transactions,” asked 500 respondents about specific online security concerns. More than three quarters of participants expressed concern about phishing emails, stolen passwords and usernames, and receiving spam email.

Just how safe are these transactions? Banks and retailers reassure consumers that it’s almost foolproof, but it appears that many consumers remain wary about banking and shopping online. The results of the survey clearly show that consumers are aware of the potential risk when they conduct transactions over the internet.

The Better Business Bureau recently published a warning against this inventive ‘phishing’ scam. You may see it making the rounds via status updates or links posted by friends. Scammers are spreading the word that a new “dislike” button is available for download. Ignore any button that offers “The Official Dislike Button.” If you click, the link will install malware or spyware on your computer. This program enables the scammers to gather your personal information and even steal your identity.

For now, Facebook does not have a “dislike” button- and these scam messages do not change that fact. Facebook is keeping things positive – you can still only “Like” things. And isn’t that better? We don’t need the negativity of a “dislike” button, and we definitely don’t need a phishing scam.

LifeLock recently partnered with Reader’s Digest Association to provide an identity theft protection package to Reader’s Digest customer base. The identity theft protection membership will be offered at a discount to Reader’s Digest customers.

The partnership between LifeLock and Reader’s Digest Association will educate consumers on the importance of identity theft protection as well as provide them with a way to protect their personal information from cyber criminals and identity theft. Reader’s Digest Association views the partnership with LifeLock as a great service since their customer base is primarily interested in improving their lives.

The partnership between LifeLock and Reader’s Digest Association was also formulated as a result of the increase in the likelihood of identity theft and Reader’s Digest is concerned about their consumers becoming the next victim. Due to increased use of electronic technology identity theft criminals are discovering a lot of tech savvy ways to commit data breaches and steal personal information for sale on the black market.

Identity theft criminals are sophisticated criminals who know how to program and manipulate technology so their efforts to steal the identity of others leave no trace. Since no method is 100 percent foolproof consumers should be aware of the possibility of identity theft and data breach of personal information.

LifeLock is a leading provider of identity theft protection and they take an active role in protecting your personal information. You can read a detailed Lifelock review here. LifeLock partners with organizations who share the same interest in protecting their clients against identity theft and educating them on the importance of protecting personal information.

Many consumers look to LifeLock for personal identity theft protection. The company was formed in 2005 and offers such services as fraud detection, information database monitoring, black market scans of chat rooms and other places where criminals exchange and sell your personal information, credit card monitoring, and credit monitoring with the three major credit bureaus. LifeLock also offers impressive identity theft insurance coverage of up to one million dollars which is backed by XL Capital, full identity recovery services, public records monitoring, lost wallet protection, children’s identity theft protection services, and address verification and protection.

LifeLock is also highly involved with community outreach services which include non-profit efforts with the National Organization for Victim Assistance and the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association. The company also has a LifeLock Speaker Series which educates communities on the importance of identity theft protection and the different methods criminals use to steal your personal and financial information. LifeLock offers proactive identity theft protection in two different plans which include the LifeLock Basic and the LifeLock Command Center both of which are offered at a very reasonable subscription rate.

McAfee Expands to Identity Protection Services

McAfee, a leading provider of computer security services recently announced a new identity protection service. The company has launched McAfee Identity Protection which is one of the most comprehensive and easy to use services available. The new identity protection service provides multiple layer protection and comprehensive scanning of information related to your identity.

McAfee Identity Protection offers a full range of services which includes black market monitoring of websites where criminals sell your personal and financial information, monitoring of credit and public records, alerting you when there has been activity associated with your personal or financial information, lost wallet protection, complete identity restoration services, and Internet security products to guard against identity theft. There is also a one million dollar guarantee if your identity is stolen while under McAfee protection plus the call center service will help you cancel your accounts, file a police report, and take care of any other matters to help rectify the situation.

McAfee Identity Protection monitors your credit reports on a daily basis from the three major credit bureaus and then alerts you if there are any red flags such as newly opened accounts or unauthorized use of your financial information. It will also scan chat rooms, blogs, and emails where online criminals steal, exchange, or sell your information to other criminals. If there has been any suspicious activity McAfee will alert you via email or text message.

MacAfee’s new identity protection service comes with an easy to use interface which allows you to check your personal identity health at a glance and any action that may be required in the event of suspicious activity. The program is Web-based so there is no software for you to install and you can access the service from any location that offers Internet connectivity.

McAfee Identity Protection was developed through ProtectMyID.com by Experian and is currently offered for an annual or monthly subscription with family plans available. McAfee plans to offer a bundle plan with its other security software later in 2010.

For more information on ProtectMyID, read our detailed review here.