How Do IDStrong's Data Breaches Alerts Work?
With data breaches occurring at an alarming rate, you must do all you can to protect your sensitive data from identity theft and fraud. There are two types of companies these days; ones that have been breached and its public knowledge and those that have been breached, which we don’t know about. That is why it is essential to know when your data shows up online because every company may not notify you after a data breach.
IDStrong's data breach alert is an essential component of our identity theft monitoring service. It detects any indicators of compromised personal information related with your identity by closely monitoring numerous data sources, including the dark web, public records, and other relevant databases. Our data breach warning system is meant to give fast and proactive notifications, giving you the ability to take control of your personal information and protect yourself against identity theft and fraud.
What are the Dangers of a Data Breach?
Hackers have begun targeting small businesses, government offices, healthcare providers, along with large corporations. That means cybercriminals could attack any company you have an account with and steal your personal data. The dangers of identity theft are numerous. Identity fraud can lead to ruined credit, ransomware, malware, phishing, theft, account takeover, trouble with the law, suspended services, and financial ruin.
All this data was compiled into one package and offered to hackers to use for various types of fraud, usually brute-force attacks where they could gain access to your other accounts if you reused any passwords. Older Americans, children, and vulnerable populations are most at risk of identity theft and fraud after a data breach.
Some of the biggest data breaches were Yahoo, LinkedIn, Equifax, Anthem, Target, Facebook (multiple attacks), and Marriott. When financial data is stolen along with personal details, the risk is far greater for customers. However, any data breach can affect you negatively. With so much data stored online and exploited by criminals, you have to protect yourself.
How Can Data Breach Alerts Help Me?
Due to the vast number of data breaches, there is a lot of free-flowing information out there, some of it about you. Hackers have become very skilled at stitching together the exploits from multiple data breaches to put together complete identity profiles on individuals. For example, if one data breach exposed your name, email address, and phone number, a cybercriminal could connect that with information found in another data breach that exposed your date of birth, credit card number, and mother’s maiden name. Now the hacker has enough information to take over your credit card account or impersonate you to open new accounts or access your other data. If a hacker finds your email address or username online all they need is your password to break into accounts and do harm. Often, if the password is weak, they can break it.
Your best and first defense is to keep a close eye on all your personal information. However, since you probably have dozens of accounts spread across the internet, it’s not feasible for you to check each one daily. Instead, you can use our identity monitoring service, which includes regular data breach notifications, to let you know whenever information from a data breach shows up online or one is publicly announced. Additionally, we will alert you when your information is exposed online, either on the dark web or in other locations where it should not be. This will allow you to take quick action to fix the problem and help you avoid identity theft and fraud.
How IDStrong Works
1. Monitor
We will continuously monitor your personal and financial information for any potential threats on the dark web and beyond
2. Alert
We will instantly notify you if we detect that your information is leaked, exposed, or breached
3. Resolve
Our identity protection experts are available 24/7 to help you take the necessary actions to restore your identity
Our Benefits
Identity Monitoring
We monitor billions of records on the dark web and alert you if we detect that your information is exposed or traded
Credit Monitoring
We monitor your credit profile for any suspicious inquiries, new loans, or any credit related changes
Privacy Monitoring
We scan data broker sites that list and sell your information and allow you to remove it with a click
$1M Identity Theft Insurance
If you fall victim to ID theft, we will provide you with up to $1 million in coverage with a no deductible for identity theft recovery expenses
Lost Wallet Assistance
If your wallet is lost or stolen, we will provide you with quick and reliable help in navigating the recovery process. We will walk you through the entire process every step of the way
Identity Restoration
If you experience identity theft, our fraud resolution team will deliver step-by-step support to investigate and restore your identity
Frequently Asked Questions About Data Breaches
What is a Data Breach?
A data breach is when some unauthorized individual or group accesses secure data from a company or network and steals, encrypts, or copies personal information for the use of fraud. A data breach usually involves personally identifiable information (PII) like your name, driver’s license number, social security number, medical or financial records, and more.
How Do Data Breaches Happen?
Data breaches happen due to cyber-attacks. These attacks could be due to employee error, a malicious insider, or an external hacker who breaches a company’s security. Unfortunately, most companies do not invest in the proper security measures to the degree necessary, and these vulnerabilities lead to hacks and exposed data. Hackers often look for login credentials (usernames/passwords) to get into other services and accounts.
How Common are Data Breaches?
Data breaches are extremely common. Rarely a week goes by without another data breach reported on the news. Annually more than 1,000 data breaches occur exposing millions of users’ data. Unauthorized access to hard drives and network servers is a daily occurrence and most of the time users are unaware their information was stolen.
What Personal Information is Typically Stolen in a Data Breach?
Typically, hackers look for items they can use to break into other accounts or use identity theft for other types of fraud. Some of the most critical pieces of information you need to protect include:
- Bank account information
- Other financial information
- Income tax number
- Credit card numbers
- Payment cards
- Passport number
- Driver’s license number and other IDs
- Social security number
- Medical insurance ID
- Names
- Usernames
- Passwords
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- Date of birth
- Home address
- Social media profiles
- Other confidential information
- Mother’s maiden name
If My Information Was Stolen in a Data Breach, Will I Be the Victim of Identity Theft?
Not necessarily, but your chances of identity fraud and scams due to social engineering increase quite a bit after a data breach. Sign up for identity theft protection right away to keep yourself and your data safe. It’s much easier to prevent identity theft than clean up the mess afterward. The average cost to Americans of a single data breach is $3.83 million.
Can I Check for Free if My Data was Exposed in a Data Breach?
Yes. Use IDStrong’s free data breach checker to see if your data is exposed in any of the major data breaches that have occurred. Then take steps to secure your personal information. If you want to tighten your data protection, you can sign up with IDStrong for our identity theft protection and data breach alerts. You cannot put a price on data security.
How to Prevent Data Breaches
You cannot prevent a data breach, but you can protect yourself from the fallout. Some tips to keep your data safe and secure are:
- Sign up for two-factor authentication whenever it is offered.
- Learn about cybercrime and how it can affect you.
- Always use very strong, long passwords made of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols.
- Regularly monitor your accounts for unusual or suspicious activity.
- Keep antivirus software on all your devices.
- Never share personal information online unless necessary.
- Use identity theft protection and credit monitoring to keep a close eye on your personal information and financial accounts.
