Are Monitoring Services Helpful?

Many tools exist that allow us to monitor the extend of our online identity, such as the “ProtectMyID” service I subscribe to through my AAA membership (note: not an endorsement!). While helpful, these tools sometimes overhype the seriousness of your information being found online and can create anxiety where it may not be justified. Occasionally we receive a call from a panicking client that they received a notification from their credit/identity monitoring service about their information being found on the ”dark web”, or some similar sounding alert. If this happens, take a deep breath and read the alert more closely. Often, it’s just that your name, email address, phone number, or similar info is found in a new database somewhere. This is trivial, as that information can easily be found in public or government records. The concern is if information like your social security number or credit card number is part of that database. In that case, use an official source like identitytheft.gov to report it. Or if your password was leaked, make sure you change it! You do use unique passwords for all your accounts, right? If not, you might be learning a tough lesson and need to change multiple account credentials. While these monitoring services can be helpful and keep up more informed, make sure you careful evaluate any alerts received before getting too worried.