Do you recall those eye catching ads for LifeLock? You know, the ones where CEO Todd Davis publishes his own Social Security number on the side of a truck and dares anyone to steal his identity? Of course, his claim is that since he is secured by LifeLock there is no way anyone could swipe his Personally Identifiable Information (PII). If the CEO believes in the product this much, it must be a winner, right? Wrong.
As of today, Todd Davis has been the victim of identity theft at least 13 times. There was the Verizon account in New York, the five collection agencies, the utility company in Texas, all looking for Todd Davis to pay up on his delinquent accounts. But of course, none of these accounts were set up by Todd Davis, rather many different criminals who, you guessed it, stole Mr. Davis’ identity.
These are not the only problems LifeLock has faced over its sly marketing ploy. In 2010, LifeLock agreed to pay $11 million to the Federal Trade Commission and $1 million to a group of 35 state attorney generals to settle charges that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services.
“While LifeLock promised consumers complete protection against all types of identity theft, in truth, the protection it actually provided left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.
The bottom line is that no company can 100% guarantee to prevent you from a data breach or hack. As long as you are connected to the internet, there is a chance you can get your identity and PII stolen. Anyone, or any company promising otherwise is making a false promise, and you should run for the hills if you hear this promise from a cybersecurity company.
The key to staying secure is to have a proper plan in place. Preventing viruses from attacking your network with a strong Anti-Malware software and patching plan is a must; this is an entry level plan that all individuals and businesses must have in place. Then, having software that will detect suspicious activity and a team to respond to this activity is key in this day of cyber threats. Nothing is 100% certain to keep your information safe, but the key is to reduce the risk as much as possible, and minimize the damage if an intrusion takes place.
