Identity Theft Protection Expert and One You Security: Consumers Need Education and a Way to Make Their Information Useless to Identity Thieves
The days when consumers could keep their Social Security numbers private are long gone, according to the chief security analyst for One You Security, LLC, a firm that helps to insulate its customers' financial identities and backs this protection with a $1 million service guarantee.

/Fraud - Identity Theft News Articles/ - SARASOTA, FL, May 30, 2008 - The ubiquity of Social Security numbers helps to fuel identity theft, as many reports have noted. Some experts have suggested that the solution is for consumers to keep their Social Security numbers secret, The Associated Press reported last week in an article exploring the limitations of some fraud-prevention services. But the days when consumers could keep their Social Security numbers private are in fact long gone, said Robert Siciliano, widely televised and quoted identity theft protection expert and chief security analyst for One You Security, LLC (http://www.OneYou.com), a firm that helps to insulate its customers' financial identities and backs this protection with a $1 million service guarantee.

"Privacy is an illusion," said Siciliano. "To pursue privacy or secrecy as a solution to identity theft is to fundamentally misunderstand the problem. It is no longer possible for consumers to keep their Social Security numbers secret; for a long time, these have in fact been easily available to thieves, who obtain the all-important digits from hacked computer databases and even from loose documents in recycling bins. A better approach is to offer a service that not only prevents new financial accounts from being opened without clients' consent, but also provides continual consumer education to help clients protect their own identities proactively."

Chief security analyst for One You Security and a member of the Bank Fraud & IT Security Report's editorial board, Siciliano leads Fortune 500 companies and their clients through consumer education workshops that explore security solutions for business and individuals. A longtime identity theft protection speaker, he has discussed data security and consumer protection on CNBC, on NBC's "Today Show," FOX Newschannel, and elsewhere.

On May 22, The Associated Press reported on the various pending and existing lawsuits against LifeLock and its founder. Questions have surfaced around LifeLock's effectiveness, the article reported, leading even the Experian credit bureau to file suit in California. "Security experts say complaints about the company reinforce the time-honored wisdom of keeping [the] Social Security number secret," according to the AP's report.

But the advice is misguided, according to Siciliano, who noted that One You Security takes a multipronged approach to identity theft protection and concerns itself not with the impossible-to-attain secrecy of its customers' easily obtainable Social Security numbers.

"Instead," said Siciliano, "One You explores the very real possibilities of at once transforming those nine digits into something useless to thieves and educating consumers on the many dangers facing them. Any identity theft protection expert or service that either advises consumers to keep their Social Security numbers private or thinks the only barrier to identity theft is security around the Social Security number itself has little understanding of the dynamics at play."

"No protection exists that is 100 percent effective against every type of identity theft," said Chris Harris, president and CEO of One You Security. "The key is to manage the threat to greatly minimize it. What if an identity thief couldn't use a stolen identity? One You strives to rob thieves of their ability to use Social Security numbers as a basis to steal consumers' financial identities. Identity thieves have enjoyed a boon because of the usefulness of consumers' Social Security numbers as universal identifiers. One You's identity theft protection service works to render those digits useless to thieves."

One You Security (http://www.OneYou.com) wraps a security system around the consumer's identity, shielding it from thieves and greatly reducing wrongdoers' lines of attack. The firm backs up its offering with a $1 million service guarantee. Subscribers to One You Security also benefit from identity theft education material such as newsletters and special alerts from Siciliano himself, all designed to help them avoid scams and practices that make the identity thief's job easy and to inform them of the latest data breaches.

YouTube video shows Siciliano on "FOX Newschannel," where he explains how the pervasive use of Social Security numbers as universal identifiers helps thieves online and off-line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqoHSACQ34U

Those wishing to learn how to protect themselves against identity theft may view video of Siciliano at VideoJug:

http://www.videojug.com/search?keywords=siciliano

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