IDShield Blog
Explore our blog for the latest news, advice, and more
across the world of identity theft protection.
Data Breach | June 30, 2021
Graduates Prime Targets For Theft After Breach
Amidst all the cards, balloons and congratulations, recent high school and college graduates received another present—the breach of credit card data used to order their caps and gowns. Supplier Herff Jones discovered the violation in mid-May as graduates flocked to large venues for the first live...
Identity Theft | June 30, 2021
Six Ways to Guard Your Family’s Gamers
With online gaming, you’re often battling two enemies without realizing it. One’s the warrior or beast on your screen; the other is a silent thief operating in the background who tries to hack your files. These second actors aren’t trying to earn a new skin or rack up a high score; they want your entire record, including...
Internet Privacy | June 28, 2021
Big Data Privacy Tug Of War Is On
An identity crisis has hit the world’s information technology industry. Big Tech giants like Apple, Amazon and Comcast have taken sides in the debate about whether data indicators like tracking should become more private or more ubiquitous. In many cases, consumers are asked to share a piece of their internet...
Recent Articles
Don’t Forget About Those Old Accounts and Profiles
Myspace, Flickr, Hi5, Foursquare, Google Plus…. Remember those? During your time online it’s highly likely that you’ve left a few old accounts and profiles online. These can pose risks to both your reputation and your online security. Here’s how IDShield can help you....
What is Criminal Identity Theft?
Criminal identity theft happens when someone who is cited or arrested for a crime uses someone else’s personal information as ID. The result: a criminal record now exists in the name of the person whose ID was hijacked. This can have all sorts of repercussions, and...
What is Synthetic Identity Theft?
Synthetic identity theft occurs when a fraudster combines real and fake personal information to create a new identity—as opposed to stealing an existing one. A thief can use a real Social Security number combined with a fake name and date of birth to ‘Frankenstein’...
Recognizing Email Scams: Weird Symbols to Look for
Once upon a time, it was a thrill to receive email. We enthusiastically welcomed birthday greetings and meet-up offers from friends, but today, most inboxes receive a deluge of unwanted, suspicious-looking content. Unfortunately, much of it is spam. So, it follows...
Why Older Americans are Top Scam Targets
Scammers who target the elderly seem to be all around us. You’ve likely heard about the grandparent's scam where a caller claims to be an individual's grandchild needing emergency cash. Another classic theme is that the individual has won a prize or giveaway. The...
How SIM Swap Works: What You Need to Know
Have you heard people talking about SIM, but didn’t know what it was? A SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module) looks like the chip on the front of most credit cards, but slightly bigger. This microdevice enables your phone to connect with your cellular provider and...
What is a Data Breach?
Data breaches used to be a shock, but now that most of us have a vibrant digital presence, they’ve become more of a reality. If your personally identifiable information hasn’t been compromised by a breach yet, there’s a decent chance that it will at some point in the...
Recent Data Breaches
Data breaches, hacks, and digital scams are a huge problem not only for companies and governments but for all of us. Because when your Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is exposed, it leads to identity theft and potentially losing the funds in your bank account....
Can You Keep Your Info From Being Leaked in a Data Breach?
The short answer to this question is: no. But if you ask the right questions, you can certainly lessen the chances that your personal information will be leaked in a company’s data breach. Data breaches have been dominating the news in recent years and unfortunately,...
Protect Your Business Email From Being Compromised (BEC)
W-2 forms and other income tax document thefts caused massive headaches for the government and taxpayers years ago when stolen identity refund fraud (SIRF) was at its peak. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lost billions of dollars, and taxpayer refunds were...
Don’t Forget About Those Old Accounts and Profiles
Myspace, Flickr, Hi5, Foursquare, Google Plus…. Remember those? During your time online it’s highly likely that you’ve left a few old accounts and profiles online. These can pose risks to both your reputation and your online security. Here’s how IDShield can help you....
Keep Your Private Information Safe On Dating Apps—The Do’s and Don’ts
Getting to know someone online means sharing your personal details. But you must be careful not to overshare because if you do, it could lead to your identity being stolen or your private data being sold. If you’re asking yourself, “is the Tinder app private?” or “are...
How Data Brokers Sell Your Identity & Personal Information
Do you know who's selling your data? That can be a difficult question to answer. Credit reporting bureaus are data brokers, but they’re only the tip of the iceberg. Tech companies, credit card companies, marketing agencies and more mine data for their own use, which...
Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Be Aware of These Charity Scams
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! You’re sure to see pink ribbons hanging in business windows, car bumpers, people’s shirts or hats, and countless other places. Since breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the U.S., it’s no surprise that nearly...
Ever Heard of Dark Patterns? Don’t Let These Questionable Tactics Claim Your Cash or Personal Info
Dark patterns. You'll soon hear much more about these techniques that manipulate consumers into decisions they might not ordinarily make. Think you can spot these manipulatives in online ads? It's more complicated than you think. So much so that a group of data and...
Can You Confirm This Big Purchase?
Beware Requests to Confirm Big Purchases! The first text—this one's from Amazon—asks you to confirm you bought an iPhone 12 for $1,130. "Just let us know if you did not make the purchase, and we'll cancel it," the text reads. A second message asks for confirmation of...
Public Wi-Fi May be Free But it Comes With a Price
Practically everyone uses public Wi-Fi. Most coffee shops, restaurants, gyms, planes, airports, and hotels offer it. It’s convenient and free. But the reality is, it comes with a price. Because when you use public Wi-Fi, you’re much more exposed to getting hacked,...
Why You Need Stronger Passwords
For every door that opens on the internet, there’s usually a “key” to open that door—in other words, a combination of username and password. And behind each door is a ton of personal information about you. If you use easy-to-hack passwords, reuse them across sites,...
Small Businesses: How to Prevent Cyber Attacks & Why You Should Be Worried
In a lot of ways, being a small business owner is like being a parent. Your business is your baby, and you need to protect it at all costs. With that said, you’ve probably already heard about cybercrime and the importance of maintaining good “online protection.” But...
Child Identity Theft: How Can Child Identity Theft Occur?
These days, almost everyone is online—including our kids. Translation: children’s private information is more exposed than ever. Why? Because information about them is collected every time they play an online game on their tablet, text with their friends on their...
24/7 Emergency Access for Identity Theft Issues
Identity theft has been a problem for years. Coronavirus has created more new opportunities for ID thieves to steal your info. During the coronavirus pandemic, more people than ever before are using the internet to work, shop, and stay entertained while they remain...
New IDShield Identity Theft Services For Digital Privacy & Cyberbullying
Anti-Cyberbullying Consultation and Assistance IDShield now offers advanced services that provide comprehensive privacy and anti-cyberbullying consultation and assistance. In addition to data monitoring and threat alerts, members will receive one-on-one consultation...
How Secure is Your Password? Password Strength Tips
Are you a QWERTY fan? Maybe sports teams are more your thing—Cowboys42, anyone? If you haven't guessed yet, these are common password choices—ones that should be eternally banned for a variety of reasons. But the main reason to stop these lightweight password...
Password Security: How to Make a Good Password
Are Your Passwords Secure? If you’re guilty of reusing that same password of your dog’s name for every single account, you are not alone. That said, it might be time for an intervention on “password clinging.” Data breaches happen every day, and the sad fact is, they...
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Two Factor Authentication: What it is and Why it’s Key in Your Online Security
Your Digital Privacy is More at Risk than Ever If the data breaches we have seen in the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we should take our digital security seriously. And the number one reason breaches occur? Passwords. These days, the password with...
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