By: Kelly | Last updated July 3, 2019 
Identity theft is a real occurrence nowadays and the internet doesn’t just open new doors and opportunities for the innocent and the honest. Hackers often use internet to their advantage to steal your data, finances and even identity.
Whether your SSN gets stolen, you lose your credit cards or your device gets infected with various viruses, the consequences can be dramatic in some cases and it can be daunting and exhausting to restore your identity and deal with the aftermath of an ID theft.
What are the benefits of using an ID theft protection service?
In theory, we can all monitor our identity, credit and important data by ourselves. But the fact is that ID monitoring is a very tedious and time-consuming job. And in order to be effective, you have to do it continuously, and nobody has the energy for that. That is where ID theft protection services come in. And it’s no slim pickings, as the market is full of online services that offer complex packages tailored for all needs.
Most ID theft protection services monitor your SSN, credit reports, the dark web and immediately alert you in case of any suspicious activities related to your personal data or your identity. They also offer restoration services in case your ID gets stolen and reimbursements of up to $1 million or even more, depending on the service and plan you opt for.
Identity theft protection services make sense for everybody but they are especially helpful for people who are vulnerable and risk having their identity stolen (for instance, if a data breach has taken place that affected the company you work for) and for those who already had they ID stolen and need assistance in rebuilding it.
Which is the best ID theft protection service on the market?
The best ID theft protection service in our line-up is Identity Guard.
Identity Guard is a reputable ID theft protection service that has almost 20 years of experience in the industry. The company that developed the service is headquartered in Virginia but Identity Guard also has a Canadian version of the service.
IBM Watson and Identity Guard
Identity Guard offers two types of services: the classic ID theft protection service and the ID theft protection service with IBM Watson.
The IBM Watson feature is a revolutionary one that is based on artificial intelligence (AI) programming. The software was developed by IBM and its super-power is the speed of processing data.
The IBM Watson is capable of analyzing and processing billions of pieces of data in a very short time to detect any potential threats and protect you from them: malware, phishing attempts and so on.
Price
Identity Guard has 3 plans: Value, Total, Premier.
Value is priced at $8.99/month.
Total is priced at $19.99/month.
Premier is priced at $24.99/month.
You can also opt for family plans:
Value: it is priced at $14.99/month
Total: it is priced at $29.99/month
Premier: it is priced at $34.99/month
Features included with Identity Guard
The most important features you get with Identity Guard are:
- IBM Watson AI (included with all 3 plans)
- Dark web monitoring
- Tax fraud
- Bank accounts takeovers (name, address and e-mail changes, requests to open bank accounts using your personal information and more)
- An anti phishing mobile app
- 3-bureau credit monitoring (with all plans except Value)
- Address monitoring
- Tax refund alerts
- Monthly Vantage 3.0 credit score and annual credit report from all 3 credit bureaus
- Social insight report
- Mobile app with anti-phishing protection, credit monitoring alerts, risk management score, threats and dark web alerts and more
- 60-day monitoring after your ID has been restored
