AllClear ID

If you've been the victim of a mass data breach (like me), you may have read that the company that failed to safeguard your information is trying to make amends. This is often achieved by providing several months or years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection. AllClear ID is one of the services often offered, and as such is not available for direct sale to the general public. But if you're curious about what services you are entitled to, here are the details.

A Quick Note About Identity Theft Protection

It's important to remember that what we call identity theft protection services aren't truly identity theft prevention services. Rather, they focus on identity theft detection and remediation. Because I cover security news, I am painfully aware of how many data breaches affect people every year. I have come to the conclusion that, at this point, it is impossible to prevent identity theft unless your parents send you to some other planet shortly after your birth, like Superman.

At minimum, these companies place all of the indicators of identity theft into one easily accessible spot, and alert you to the most egregious problems. They monitor credit reports and have access to clearing houses of stolen data, which they scour to see if anything matches your information. The hope is that you can prevent a stolen credit card number or fraudulent account from leading to an even worse situation. AllClear ID offers a unique, proactive feature that I discuss below.

The other important feature of identity theft protection services is remediation. Should your identity be stolen, the companies will assist you in the process of refunding fraudulent charges and securing your identity. It's comforting to think that you won't be alone through what is sure to be a challenging time.

At PCMag, we take testing very seriously. Even when evaluating antivirus software, we've found ways to measure software's effectiveness at detecting and removing nasty software. Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to simulate identity theft in order to evaluate how these companies respond. At least, not a legal way. With that in mind, we're presenting the information on these services so that you, the consumer, can make an informed decision.

Pricing and Protection

According to its FAQ, AllClear ID no longer offers its product for sale to the general public. As the company explains: "Our identity protection services are paid for by businesses and organizations who want to keep their customers safe. They are only available to you if they have been paid for by a business or organization."

That means the service is free for those who receive it, paid in advance. It does not, however, mean that the families of those who receive this service are necessarily covered. If you have received information about a AllClear ID plan, check to see if it includes anyone besides yourself. You can add any number of additional family members for $14.95 per month per adult.

Minors can be added for $4.95 per child per month. The AllClear ID FAQ indicates that the company offers the ChildScan program to secure the identity of minors. That might seem unnecessary, but an identity thief could conceivably use your child's social security number and it could be over a decade before anyone notices.

Note that the duration of your AllClear ID coverage depends on the service your company or organization has provided. Consult your AllClear ID information to see how long you'll be covered. When the duration of your coverage ends, you'll have the option to continue your protection for $8.50 per month for adults and $3.95 per month for children.

An individual account with IDShield costs $9.95 per month, and is available for purchase by the general public. For $19.95 per month, you can expand coverage to include a spouse and up to eight children under the age of 18. LifeLock (99.99 Per Year - $50 off First Year* at Norton Small Business) , on the other hand, has a tiered system that offers more features the higher you go. Accounts start at $9.99 per month, and top out at $29.99 per month. You can add a child for $5.99 with the LifeLock Junior plan, and two parents for $19.99 with LifeLock Senior.

Once you've set up your AllClear ID account, the company begins watching for instances of your personal information being used online. According to the company's website, it does this primarily through the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA). According to AllClear ID, this organization maintains a global database of stolen credentials. If your information matches something in the database, AllClear ID lets you know.

To watch for potential identity theft, AllClear ID monitors your Social Security Number, credit card numbers, and email addresses. I didn't see any limit to how many credit cards or email addresses the service would monitor. LifeLock users can have the service monitor one social security number, one driver's license, and one mother's maiden name. It also monitors up to five physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses, as well as up to 10 credit card or bank accounts. IDShield is more generous. It monitors one social security number, driver's license, and passport number. It also monitors 10 email addresses, credit cards, bank accounts, and retail cards.

AllClear ID also provides credit monitoring. Through a partnership with TransUnion, you'll receive one free credit report. A company representative explained that this is to give clients a chance to identify fraud that occurred prior to being enrolled with AllClear ID. If the company finds any additioinal fraud, it can pull more credit reports as part of its investigation. At the its highest pricing tier, LifeLock provides monthly credit reports in addition to three annual reports. Of course, having more information is not always better. You may feel overwhelmed with so many credit reports, and trying to find the differences between the reports can be daunting.

AllClear ID does not, however, monitor your banking activity. Credit monitoring instead focuses on loans or other activities done in your name that could affect your credit rating. LifeLock does monitor your bank accounts. You simply grant the company secure, read-only access in a manner similar to the personal finance app Mint. That's handy, since fraudulent purchases are remarkably common.

Should AllClear ID detect something untoward with your information, you'll receive an alert via phone call. In fact, it uses the same two-factor phone method each time you login to the service. It's a bit annoying, but a company representative explained that because AllClear ID is provided as part of data breach remediation, the phone-only approach reduces the chance clients will fall for email phishing attacks. In my experience, this method has drawbacks because it's easy to mistake an automated phone call for a spam call. I prefer text message alerts, or better still, push alerts via app.

One notable AllClear ID feature is that the service calls your phone to verify each and every login attempt. This adds another layer of protection to a service that is tasked with not only monitoring, but safeguarding your private information.

LifeLock and IDShield go further than AllClear ID. These services also look at public records, informing you of freely available information you may not have been aware of. They also provide other services, such as alerts related to local sex offender registries. Of course, if you've already been the victim of a breach, you might be disinclined to offer any more information than is necessary.

Credit Fraud Alerts

AllClear ID recently announced that it was including credit Fraud Alerts as a feature for its service. These are similar to, but distinct from, credit freezes or credit locks. An AllClear ID representative explained to me that Fraud Alerts are backed by the US FACT Act.

Basically, you establish a Fraud Alert with one credit agency, and it must be honored by the other two for up to 90 days. Whenever someone attempts to open an instant credit account, to make a large purchase for example, the credit agency calls you to confirm that it is you that is making the request. It's a simple measure that does more than simply detect fraud; it actually prevents it.

Creating a Fraud Alert with AllClear ID just takes a few clicks. The service automatically reminds you to renew your Fraud Alert before it expires. It's a free service that AllClear ID makes incredibly easy to use.

Identity Theft Recovery

Should your identity be stolen, the company offers an Identity Repair service. This means that you'll be assigned an individual to help you through the process of taking back your identity. The company says it will spend up to $1M in order to undo identity theft damage. Unlike other companies in this space, AllClear ID claims to offer an insurance policy. In addition to the identity recovery service, the zero-deductible policy covers $2,000 in lost wages, $1,000 in travel expenses, $2,000 in elder or child care, $1,000 for legal consul, and $1,000 for CPA costs.

IDShield, on the other hand, says it will spend up to $5M to help restore your identity, and reserves the services of the Kroll company to that end. LifeLock states that it will spend up to $1M on identity theft recovery, and now includes reimbursement options for lost funds, or expenses incurred because of identity theft. The LifeLock reimbursement limits start at $25,000 at the lowest tier and top out at $1M.

I was unable to discern what level of customer support or emergency support is available with AllClear ID. I did notice that one support line lists its times of availability as Monday to Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central time. Both LifeLock and IDShield offer 24-hour identity theft consultation availability, although IDShield only offers customer service between certain hours.

The Best Defense

Because of its business model, AllClear ID is entirely focused on recovery after a data breach. But there are many steps that you, as an individual can take to make it less likely you'll ever receive an AllClear ID policy in the first place. First, you can use a password manager. Creating a unique, complex password for every site you visit goes a long way toward keeping your information safe.

Second, you can manage your own credit reports. You are entitled to a free credit report from each of the major agencies. With an annual credit report, you can track activity that might otherwise go unnoticed. Of course, you'll have to wait a year for each update. Credit Karma makes managing and acquiring all this information a little easier.

Last, you can go the extra step and make your information harder to steal in the first place. Abine Blur (39.00 Per Year at Abine, Inc.) , for example, lets you create disposable credit cards that work just like normal ones for online purchases. The difference is that you can control how long they last, and even where they can be used. Should one of these virtual cards be stolen, it won't reveal your actual credit card information. Abine Blur also lets you manage disposable email addresses, making it that much harder for attackers to impersonate you.

All Clear

It's clear that AllClear ID is an outlier in the identity theft prevention world. It's business model means that it doesn't compete with other, consumer-focused services. But because it is offered as a remediation tool after data breaches, AllClear ID has to be prudent about its offerings both because from a cost perspective, but also to not exacerbate client's emotional or security situation.

As such, AllClear ID has a lean but effective offering. It isn't stuffed to the gills with questionably useful feautres, and has a far more prudent approach that is respectful to customer's privacy. The new Fraud Alerts are a huge leap, one that other companies in the space will hopefully follow. And including what it describes as a zero-deductible insurance policy is surprising, but certainly provides welcome piece of mind. That said, users have limited control over their interaction with the service, since they cannot buy it directly.

If you've been enrolled in AllClear ID, you don't necessarily need to opt for a more expensive and feature-laden option unless you desperately need the additional information those services provide.

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