According to recent research conducted by the Javelin Strategy research group in 2023, over $43 billion was lost to identity theft in 2022 alone, with over 1.1 million reports. Chances are of course that the figures are much higher than this, as many people may not have reported instances of identity theft.
Contents
If you’re looking for identity theft protection, ID Shield is a service that’s worth looking into. IDShield is a service that helps individuals and businesses alike see the early signs of identity theft happening and stop it in its tracks.
IDShield also provides a variety of options for people who have already fallen victim to identity theft and need help recovering their information and putting their lives back together.
The identity theft insurance provided by IDShield is by far one of its most attractive features. This is our IDShield Protection Services review, and we’re here to determine whether or not this is the right identity theft protection service for you.
Key Takeaways
- What is IDShield? – IDShield offers comprehensive identity theft protection services.
- Members benefit from monitoring, alerts, and recovery services.
- Positive reviews emphasize IDShield’s proactive approach and customer support.
- Comparisons with other services highlight IDShield’s unique features and value.
- IDShield is a reliable choice for individuals and families seeking identity protection.
Click here for the best identity fraud protection.
Introduction to IDShield
Before we explore the different features and benefits that IDShield affords its customers, let’s take a closer look at exactly what it is, what it does, and how it all started.
A Quick Glace at Key IDShield Details
| Details of IDShield | |
| Service Overview | IDShield offers comprehensive identity theft protection for individuals, families, and businesses. |
| Key Services | Monitoring, alerts, recovery services, and identity theft insurance up to $1 million. |
| Plans Available | Individual Plan, Family Plan, Business Cybersecurity Protection Plan. |
| Individual Plan | Starts at $14.95/month. Includes identity, financial, and device protection. |
| Family Plan | Starts at $29.95/month. Covers all family members and offers similar services as the Individual Plan. |
| Business Plan | Costs $89.95/month. Includes cyber vulnerability alerts, device protection, live support, cybersecurity policies, and cyber liability insurance. |
| Unique Features | 30-day risk-free trial, up to $3,000,000 in reimbursements for unrecovered costs, and comprehensive monitoring (including dark web, social media, and more). |
| Company Background | Originated from Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc., founded in 1969 by Harland Stonecipher. Evolved into LegalShield and then IDShield to address identity theft concerns. |
| Customer Reviews | Generally positive, highlighting effective monitoring, prompt alerts, and efficient recovery services. |
| Comparison with Others | May be more expensive than some competitors but offers robust features and comprehensive coverage. Better for families compared to some services like LifeLock. |
What is IDShield?
IDShield is an identity theft protection service that offers a variety of components that help protect you, both as an individual and a family, as well as a business, from identity theft and fraud.
It features a number of fraud and identity theft detection and prevention services and even provides identity theft insurance of up to $1 million. They also offer a 30-day risk-free trial that you can try to see if you’re satisfied with the service.
If you are concerned about having your identity stolen, both your financial and personal information, then considering a service such as IDShield is certainly in your best interest.
There are also various plans or packages to consider, each of which has additional features all of which can help protect you, your family, and your business from identity thieves. Here’s a more detailed explanation of IDShield.
The Evolution of IDShield
IDShield first got its start back in 1969, when an insurance salesman by the name of Harland Stonecipher suffered a car accident. The car accident wasn’t his fault, but he still had to pay for the expensive legal fees.
He didn’t want other people to be caught in this same financial predicament, which is why he became the founder and chief executive officer of a company that was known as Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc.
Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. was a network of law firms that made legal representation affordable and accessible to everyone who needed it. For 40 years, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but was then privatized in 2011 and renamed LegalShield.
The company known as LegalShield received many complaints from its customers that they were suffering from fraud and identity theft, which is why the owners of the company decided to start a new section of the company, IDShield; specifically dedicated to protecting the sensitive financial and personal information of all of its customers.
Exploring IDShield Services
IDShield is a diverse and multifaceted service that has plans and coverage in place for individuals, families, and businesses. Let’s take a closer look at each of the three main plans and what kind of identity theft protection they provide. Let’s take a look at some IDShield Plan Details.
Features and Benefits
Let’s explore the three main IDShield plans that you have access to, and what each of them entails, particularly the main IDShield member benefits.
The Individual Plan
The first plan available from IDShield is the individual plan. This plan starts at $14.95 per month, which monitors one credit bureau, or you can choose the slightly more expensive option for $19.95 per month, which monitors three credit bureaus simultaneously.
There are four main services included in the individual plan:
- Identity protection
- Identity restoration
- Financial protection
- Cybersecurity and device protection
Let’s take a look at each of the four categories to see what they entail.
Identity Protection
IDShield monitors a variety of areas and provides you with alerts of various potential risks of identity theft, including the following:
- SSN monitoring
- Identity threat alerts
- Dark web monitoring
- Social media monitoring
- Public records monitoring
- Minor child monitoring
- Court records monitoring
- Address change monitoring
- Medical data reports
- Identity insights and tips
- Reputation management
- Sex offender search
- Monitoring.
Identity Restoration
In the event that fraud happens, IDShield will help you restore your identity using the following features:
- Live member support
- Restoration verification
- 24/7 emergency assistance
- Guaranteed identity theft restoration
- Unlimited inquiries to customer support
- Dedicated licensed private investigators
- Identity theft consultation services
- Lost and stolen wallet assistance
- Up to $3,000,000 of reimbursements for unrecovered costs.
Financial Protection
IDShield provides 24/7 credit monitoring and alerts. This includes various features such as the following:
- Continuous credit monitoring
- Monthly credit score tracker
- Credit threat alerts
- Hard credit inquiry alerts
- Payday loan monitoring
- Financial threshold account monitoring
- Subprime monitoring
- High-risk application monitoring
- Credit card freeze and fraud alert assistance
Cybersecurity and Device Protection
Identity theft often happens through electronic devices, which is why IDShield protects up to three different devices from malware, ransomware, and viruses, including the following features:
- VPN protection
- Password manager
- Personal Internet monitoring
- Username and password credentials monitoring
- Backup breach notifications
- Lost device protection
- Privacy management
- Data encryption service
- Mobile device virus protection
- Data theft prevention
- Malware and ransomware protection
The Family Plan
The features offered in the family plan are virtually the same as for the individual plan, so we won’t go into great detail about it.
This applies to all of the four separate protection areas, including cybersecurity and device protection, financial protection, identity restoration, and identity protection.
The difference here is that unlike the individual plan that only covers a single person, the family plan covers your entire family, specifically, you, your spouse, and all dependents under the age of 18 years old that are currently living with you.
The family plan is slightly more expensive, starting at just $29.95 per month for the monitoring of one credit bureau, and starting at $34.95 per month for the monitoring of three credit bureaus.
The Business Cybersecurity Protection Plan
Last but not least, there is also a special cyber attack protection plan designed specifically for businesses. This particular plan costs $89.95 per month. There are five core features included in this business plan, so let’s take a quick look at each of them.
Cyber Vulnerability Alerts
IDShield provides your business with cyber vulnerability alerts by conducting monthly vulnerability scans of your network and providing you with a thorough report of the various vulnerabilities that you may be suffering from. Finding these vulnerabilities will allow you to take the appropriate steps to eliminate them, and therefore protect your business from cyber attacks.
Device Protection
Another feature of the business cyber protection plan is that one device is covered with endpoint detection and response, with 24/7 monitoring from the security operations center. This service provides prevention and detection of attacks, as well as rapid elimination of all threats with totally automated and policy-driven response capabilities. Additional devices can be added to the plan for $7.95 each per month.
Live Support
Also worth noting is that this plan comes with live support for a very limited cost, generally less expensive than with other services.
Cyber Security Policies
IDShield also helps businesses examine and create a variety of cybersecurity policies based on best practices, designed to help keep businesses safe. There is no hourly fee or retainer needed. These essential cyber security policies are already included with your membership.
Cyber Liability Insurance
One of the best features of the cyber security business plan is that clients have access to insurance coverage anywhere from $250,000 up to several million dollars. This coverage includes electronic theft, ransomware, regulatory fines and penalties, defense and settlement or judgment, and more.
How IDShield Protects Your Identity
IDShield protects your identity in four simple steps.
- First, you sign up and get IDShield according to the coverage that you need.
- Second, IDShield then engages in 24/7 monitoring of your reputation, identity, credit, and finances, and alerts you about potential fraud, and more.
- Third, if something does go wrong and your identity is stolen, IDShield provides fully licensed private investigators that help restore your identity to its pre-theft status, therefore saving you money and time.
- Fourth, there is up to $3,000,000 in protection coverage for experts and lawyers who are required to fix identity theft issues. It accomplishes this through a wide variety of features, most of which were discussed above when we described both the individual and business plans.
Through identity monitoring, such as by monitoring your information on social media platforms and on the dark web, credit monitoring, device monitoring, and more, IDShield is able to prevent identity theft before it occurs.
It also provides users with world-class VPNs, parental controls, malware protection, and password protection too.
You even get monthly credit score reports from either one or three separate credit bureaus. As soon as IDShield registers any suspicious activity, you will be provided on alert, and the qualified investigators and agents at IDShield will immediately begin resolving the situation and returning your identity and situation to its rightful state.
IDShield in Action: Customer Reviews
Let’s take a closer look at what some customers have to say about IDShield.
Testimonials and Success Stories
Sheryll from Plattsville says:
“I love getting emails or logging into my account and seeing “Nothing to report” and not just knowing there have been no red flags in the previous month but it also reminds me that my personally identifiable information is being monitored on the dark web and the Internet. It provides huge peace of mind that if my identity is ever suspected to be compromised, there are experts who will research and fix everything. Without IDShield, I wouldn’t know where to begin in that situation.”
Kelly from California had the following to say:
“Attentive to my worries, helpful in providing advice & instructing on further steps to make in solving the problems faced with identity theft, would recommend their services to anyone who is faced with this issue.”
Bonnie from Oregon had this to say:
“IDShield monitors your passport, your social security number, your drivers license, your medical id, your store cards, your birthdate, your IRA–all in addition to the normal bank accounts and credit cards. They let you set thresholds on each account and you are quickly alerted if the threshold is exceeded. If it is your transaction you simply mark it as reviewed and dismiss the alert. If it isn’t you can call in 24/7 and talk with a licensed fraud investigator. I have been alerted of a credit check while I was still on the phone with a loan officer. I was also alerted right away when I made a sale in my IRA that exceeded the threshold I had set. I also called IDShield when I wasn’t sure whether I should click on an email and they advised me not to–it was a phishing email. Excellent service–very prompt and informed.”
Expert Analysis and Ratings
According to expert analysis, specifically at Consumer Affairs, IDShield has a five-star rating across the board. According to Forbes, “For some of the most sweeping identity theft monitoring protection on the market today, plans from IDShield are worth considering. These plans contain some important protection features.”
PC Magazine also rates IDShield very highly on all fronts, stating that “When you combine device-level protection such as antivirus and VPN with a service to monitor your personal data and remediate identity theft, you’ve got a comprehensive umbrella of protection. IDShield relies on the well-regarded Trend Micro for local device protection, without trying to modify or integrate the Trend Micro applications. Its identity and privacy monitoring features are on par with the best competing products”.
According to the industry experts at PC Magazine, it’s one of the most comprehensive identity protection services worldwide, which is exactly why thousands of people trust it.
Furthermore, according to this expert video review, IDShield is certainly one of the top competitors in the business, especially in terms of customer service. As our expert says, “I was greeted by a US-based agent, who was knowledgeable of my problem, and got it sorted out quickly and efficiently”.
IDShield Compared to Other Identity Protection Services
For a point of reference, let’s do a quick comparison between IDShield and several other major identity theft protection services.
| Feature/Service | IDShield | LifeLock | Identity Guard | Aura |
| Monitoring Services |
|
|
|
|
| Protection Level |
|
|
|
|
| Packages and Pricing |
|
|
|
|
| Customer Satisfaction |
|
|
|
|
| Unique Selling Points |
|
|
|
|
IDShield vs. Other Providers
In general, what you can expect from IDShield is that it’s going to be a bit more expensive than other services, however, the features and benefits offered also seem to be more robust. What it comes down to is that you get what you pay for, and with IDShield, although it comes in at a somewhat premium price, the services offered are also premium.
IDShield vs Lifelock
In general, both of these services provide restoration services up to $3,000,000 to help recoup any losses that occurred due to identity theft. They have many of the same features, but LifeLock is the better option for individuals, whereas IDShield is better for families, both in terms of features and affordability. A big downside with LifeLock however is that it only monitors Equifax, while neglecting other credit bureaus.
Aura vs IDShield
Aura is another reputable identity theft protection service, with one of the defining features being that it is quite affordable. Many people prefer the price of Aura over IDShield, but the issue is of course that the protection isn’t nearly as good, especially in terms of private investigator services designed to help recover your lost identity.
Identity Guard vs IDShield
Identity Guard is also a reputable service to consider, but what you need to realize here is that it’s also considered somewhat of a budget service. For instance, its lowest plan, considered its value plan, does not include any type of credit monitoring. Although it may be fine for basic purposes, it doesn’t provide the same amount of protection as IDShield.
Choosing the Right Identity Protection Service
Let’s quickly take a look at a few of the main factors that you need to consider when choosing the right identity protection service for you.
- Make sure that the service in question provides you with comprehensive monitoring. A good service should monitor your Social Security numbers, financial accounts, credit reports, and more.
- One of the most important aspects of any such service is credit monitoring, something that IDShield certainly provides.
- Ensure that you choose an identity protection service that provides you with real time alerts so you know as soon as your identity is under threat.
- Identity theft insurance is another important factor to keep in mind as you examine different providers, as some offer more and some offer less.
- You may also want to consider various privacy and security measures that may be in place, such as secure data storage, encryption, and other privacy policies that help protect your identity and information.
With over $43 billion lost to identity theft in just one year, the importance of family and personal cybersecurity services cannot be overstated. A blend of monitoring, alerts, and recovery services, backed by insurance, provides a robust resilience mechanism for individuals and businesses.
– Kurt Sanger Cybersecurity Expert
Conclusion: The Verdict on IDShield
The verdict on IDShield is that it’s one of the best identity theft protection and recovery services in the USA. Yes, it is also slightly more expensive, but with this premium price comes premium features and benefits. If you want to protect you and your family’s identities and personal and financial information from being stolen, then IDShield is certainly one of the best options to consider.
What is IDShield: Frequently Asked Questions
How Does IDShield Protect Against Identity Theft?
IDShield monitors personal information, provides timely alerts, and offers recovery services in case of identity theft.
What Makes IDShield Different From Other Identity Protection Services?
IDShield protection services have unique features that include comprehensive monitoring of credit, SSN, and much more, a dedicated case manager specifically for you, and a $1 million insurance policy. The services offered are generally more comprehensive than with any other provider.
