What is Identity Guard Essentials?

Identity Guard is an identity-security service that uses its very own Watson AI to prevent your information from being stolen online. They are one of the most reliable identity protection services and has been operating since 2001.

Identity theft

In the age where it is rare for a person to not have any of their information stored online either on purpose (social media accounts, business profiles) or not (publicly available government records), it is easy for others to steal your identity for financial gain. Without your knowledge, other people may use your name or credit information.

Some risks of identity theft include:

• A damaged credit history– If another person takes hold of your credit account, they may make big purchases that you cannot afford at all. This will leave you with a damaged credit account and a lower credit score. This can cause debt, denied mortgages, loans, and years of fixing.
• Health-related complications– If the thief uses your ID to get prescription medicine for their own, their records may be mixed up with yours. This can cause misinformation in your medical records and may cause delays in treatment.
• Criminal charges– The worst that can happen is to face a criminal charge against you by having your identity used to do something illegal. Even if you didn’t do the crime, the whole process of proving yourself innocent will take a chunk of your time.

Identity Guard Essentials

As the name implies, this plan of Identity Guard gives you all its essential features. This is the most affordable (priced at $8.99 if charged annually and $9.99 if charged monthly) which is why it comes with the fewer number of tools. These include:

• Social Security Number Monitoring– Using their own artificial intelligence technology, Identity Guard can browse for any activities done using your social security number. Once they discover that your SSN is being used, you will immediately be sent an alert.
  
  
• Black Market Monitoring– The deep web is the place on the internet that is unregulated and can only be accessed using a TOR browser and protected access. Because of this, an online black market filled with personal information such as Social Security Numbers, Credit Card numbers, and more exist. In case Identity Guard detects that your identity is listed on the black market, you will immediately be sent a notification for you to take action.
  
  
• ID Information Verification– Every update for your ID information, credit card, passwords, addresses, and more in Identity Guard’s monitored sites will be sent to you for confirmation. In case it was not you who updated it, you will be advised to immediately act to prevent your account from being taken over by another. You will also be alerted whenever someone tries to change your personal account information in banks and credit providers.
• Victim Assistance – You will be helped to recover after becoming a victim of identity theft by experts from Identity Guard.
  
  
• Credit Cancellation– In case your wallet or credit cards are lost or stolen, you can contact Identity Guard for them to cancel your accounts. You can also ask up to $2,000 for emergency purposes.
  
  
• Password Protection– Through ID Vault PC, all of your user names and passwords can be safely encrypted and stored with protection so you can log in with ease using your PC.
  
  
• $1 Million Identity Theft Insurance– All customers are given a $1 million identity theft insurance which can be claimed if you qualify for it.