July 2019

43% of Data Breaches Affect Small Businesses

July 30, 2019

43% of Breaches Affect Small Businesses

Brian Thompson Breach Breach, Identity Fraud, Identity Theft

In the recently released 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), Verizon found that 43% of breaches affect small businesses and that a third (32%) of breaches involved phishing, a form of social engineering. Verizon built this report upon the analysis of 41,686 security incidents and 2,013 confirmed data breaches, the Verizon DBIR digs into the overall threat landscape, the actors, actions, and assets that are present in breaches. The 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) Key Takeaways (please see here) highlights 12 key takeaways including: Financial gain remains the most common motivate behind data breaches (71%) 43% of breaches affect small businesses A third (32%) of breaches involved phishing The nation-state threat is increasing, with 23% of breaches by nation-state actors More than half (56%) of data breaches took months or longer to discover Ransomware remains a major threat and is the second most common type of malware […]

July 30, 2019

Why Provide Identity Theft Protection as an Employee Benefit?

Brian Thompson Identity Theft Employee Benefits, Human resources, Identity Theft

Employers often ask, “Why should I provide identity theft protection as an employee benefit?”. Let’s face it, we increasingly live our lives online. If it’s banking, social media, or buying products and services we constantly expose ourselves to potential fraud. With that, employees are more aware of the issue either through personal experience or the frequent breaches in the headlines. But again, why should you add Identity Theft Protection as an employee benefit? After all, they can just go get it on their own, right…yes But employees expect their employer to help them with their financial wellness. Employees expect financial vehicles such as 401k plans, disability insurance, medical insurance, life insurance, and student debt programs. And now, increasingly looking to employers for programs to protect them against the detrimental effects of Identity Theft. If you have not considered Identity Theft Protection, here are the top reasons why you should consider […]

July 17, 2019

14 features of Identity Theft Protection and the Most Important One!

Brian Thompson Identity Theft

We all get bombarded with the reasons why we should have Identity Theft Protection. With all that noise it can get confusing as to what features really matter. First, it is important to know the three main services of a provider. Then to understand how they do that with features. And Finally what feature is the most important from our perspective. 3 Main Services of Identity Theft Protection Let’s start with the 3 main services that a provider offers: Common Features of Identity Theft Protection Now we can look at the broad scope of features that fit into each of these three categories. When we look at the broad market of identity theft protection there are 14 main features that providers have. Credit Monitoring, 1 or 3 bureaus depending on the program chosen Annual Credit report Monthly Credit Score Tracking Internet Dark Web Public Records Criminal Data Expense Reimbursement Insurance […]

July 16, 2019

What Do Identity Theft Protection Services Really Do?

Brian Thompson Identity Theft

We all hear about the big breaches in the marketplace but what does that mean to us, what can an identity theft protection services actually do to protect us? If these questions have ever run through your mind, you are not alone! But, we should understand these services and what they offer. First! No, Identity theft protection services DO NOT prevent identity theft. The prevention of identity theft is a far fetched idea at this point. You would have to gain/regain control over all of your personal information from every area of your life and secure that information. This, unfortunately, is unrealistic as most of our information is out there already. We provide our Personal Identifiable Information (PII) for almost everything/transaction we do. Our own behavior and the companies we associate with every day are susceptible to breach or mishandling information, putting us all at risk. This alone creates exposure to […]