Should I use the identity theft service provided after the Blue Cross/Excellus hack?
Asked by
LuckyGuy (
43867
)
September 30th, 2015
I got a letter in the mail stating that I was one of the millions of people with Blue Cross / Excellus who had their medical records hacked. That included my address, phone number, social sec number, medical records, and who knows what.
Great. Now they are offering Identity Theft protection for 2 years by Kroll. After verifying this was not a scam, I went to the site and started the process. They want my name, address, email, phone number, security question, and then the info to protect , soc sec number, medical records, credit cards, email addresses, banking information, etc.
It occurs to me that I am giving someone a complete “Fullz” on me that some slimebag employee in the company can sell. How do I know their system won’t be hacked by insiders?
Let’s assume the Kroll monitoring service is perfectly secure and will work, but what happens in 2 years? Do they hold me hostage by strong-arming me into suggesting I continue with the “service” for a fee? I doubt my information will disappear.
So far I only gave them my email address and a phone number. Should I offer something else to “protect”?
Did anyone else get the same letter? Did you use the service? Should I use it? Am I being unreasonably paranoid?
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8 Answers
Change all your passwords and IMO take a pass on Kroll….
We have reviewed Identity Theft Shield and found that it offers solid identity theft recovery support for victims but takes no steps to protect their subscribers from having their identities stolen in the first place.
They also had this to say…
We’re sorry, but we’re no longer reviewing this service his could be for many reasons but some of the most common are that the product has been discontinued or we no longer recommend it. Please see our comparisons and reviews of similar services below for our top-ranked alternatives: Link for review of ID Theft services
@Cruiser That is great information. That review is a little old but seems thorough. I think I will sign-up but limit what I give: email, phone number, address, and then use the service if I get hacked.
I used an identify theft service for a couple of years and the one good thing it did was it immediately contacted me if I opened a new credit card. That’s about it. If someone had stolen my credit card and started charging, they wouldn’t know.
I think some of those services will help you fight the horrible battles when your identity has been stolen to straighten things out, but I don’t know the details of that.
I’m seriously thinking of “locking” my credit so nothing can be opened without me unlocking it. I already only use credit cards, never debit cards.
The Government has a website that has a lot on how to protect against ID theft and repair your credit if it was tampered with.
@Cruiser Sadly I did nothing to have my information stolen. The slime broke into Excellus Blue Cross and took it. Ideally all my information wold be in one SAFE place and it would be monitored and protected. But we all know THAT is not going to happen. If I give them everything, that is just one more chance for an Eastern European low-life to grab it. The economic incentive to steal “Fullz” is too great and the chance of getting caught is too small, thanks to TOR and other tools. I am considering filling up my profile with only 2 or three pieces of real info that is already known, and fake info for the other 30 pieces they want. I will make them unique so if they ever show up I will know the source.
@LuckyGuy Before you do anything, I would make sure your fake info won’t muss up your credit score.
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