Identity Fraud in Focus quarterly report
8 min
We are living in a new reality.
We can fill our fridge with groceries, our house with furniture, and our garage with cars, all without leaving the comfort of our home. Our watches have become personal assistants that remind us of appointments, tell us when we to stand, and even let us know when we need to breathe.
While technology has made many aspects of our lives much easier, it has also made us bigger targets for identity thieves. What was once unthinkable is now commonplace.
This means InfoArmor’s mission to protect the privacy, identity, and finances of every man, woman, and child is now even more critical. It’s also why we are so excited about the launch of Identity Health — an enhanced feature that will fundamentally change how we diagnose, prevent, and treat privacy protection.
A new hope: Introducing Identity Health
Nearly half of the country had their Social Security numbers, birth dates, work history, and more stolen in the Equifax attack. The Identity Theft Resource Center reported 791 data breaches in the first half of 2017, a 30 percent increase over the same period in 2016, the year with the record for most data breaches.
InfoArmor was founded on the singular belief that everyone deserves peace of mind, and our mission is to help as many people achieve this as possible. Identity Health is our plan for this new reality.
We think people need to fundamentally change how they think about their identities. Today, it simply isn’t possible to be at a “low risk” of identity theft.
Think of your identity as you would your health: It’s an ever-changing state that requires constant monitoring and prevention. Our enhanced system is designed to help you do just that.
Some of the changes will be immediately clear. For example, we will no longer be measuring your risk level. We will instead calculate your Identity Health status. There will be three levels: Low-risk (green), At-risk (yellow), and Exposed (red).
Each status takes into account individual actions, like addressing outstanding alerts and maintaining up-to-date personal information, as well as our own work cross-referencing external data and monitoring the dark web.
This might mean some users will see they have moved from a low-risk state to an elevated level. If this happens, log in to your account and we’ll walk you through what you need to do to obtain optimal identity health. Based on the type of alerts you receive, some items may take longer to correct than others — just like your own health. Lowering your cholesterol doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s critical to your well-being and worth the effort.
In addition to factoring in actions you take to protect your identity, the enhanced algorithm takes into account everything ranging from questionable social media posts to scouring the latest activity on the dark web. These are just a few of the actions we’re taking on a daily basis to create a more secure and private world.
The risk of being human
Yes, we are living in a new reality — one where simply having a Social Security number puts you at risk.
This requires each of us to change how we think about our own identity and be more vigilant than ever in protecting our privacy. This reality will likely change again before we know it.
The most important part to remember is that you aren’t in this alone. We’re with you each step of the way.
We’ve got this!