Identity Force Blog

Identity Force CEO Steven Bearak announced today that the company is now extending sophisticated protection from online fraudsters to all of its members at no cost. The Online Identity Protection Suite thwarts identity thieves by scrambling personally identifiable information and recognizing and blocking phishing sites before they load on computers. The free software takes seconds to download and install, and makes it virtually impossible for system hackers or phishing schemes to steal sensitive information that can be used to commit identity theft. Identity Force members simply need to log into their account dashboards, scroll down to the “Tools” section, find ... (Read Full Article)

This morning Identity Force released our Spring 2010 National Survey of Hospital Compliance Executives. This is our 2nd annual hospital survey – and the results are startling to say the least. The pandemic of data breaches and medical identity theft remains at critical levels throughout hospitals in the United States despite new regulations, including the HITECH Act, meant to protect the security of patients’ personal information. Hospitals are experiencing significant difficulties in solving the problems of compliance, breaches, as well as ID fraud and misuse, and it is very reasonable to question whether new regulations will ultimately be effective. The ... (Read Full Article)

For too long now we have been told by the big credit bureaus and different identity protection companies that our credit scores can help to tell us whether or not we are victims of identity theft. Well… not really. Credit scores were developed for lenders – not consumers – and are used to predict the likelihood that someone will pay back a loan, not whether fraud is taking place. Not to sound too brazen, but all of us at Identity Force think we have found a more pro-active, accurate, and consumer-friendly way for someone to determine their risk of being ... (Read Full Article)

Hospitals, health plan sponsors, health care providers, and their vendors need to act immediately to meet the new rules introduced by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). HITECH (enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) makes significant changes to HIPAA, including changes that subject various vendors directly to privacy and security requirements and require notice to individuals whose information is affected by a breach of privacy. (Read Full Article)

As we enter 2010 it is clear that companies and consumers alike are not being well-served when it comes to handling data breaches. From the viewpoint of businesses, the vague, overlapping, and ineffective patchwork of regulations is not only difficult to manage, it actually acts as a deterrent to reporting data breaches. And for consumers, the lack of clear regulatory oversight means that millions of people are never informed that their personal information has been compromised. (Read Full Article)

The Federal Government's New HITECH Act, which went into effect on September 23, 2009, strengthens the rules designed to protect the privacy and security of health-related data. However, vague wording in the regulations written by the Office of Health and Human Services (HHS) has opened the door under-reporting of data breaches, which will in turn put breach victims at undue risk of medical identity theft. The Interim Final Rule issued by HHS on August 24, 2009 says that a data breach incident of Personal Health Information (PHI) only requires notification if the breach represents... (Read Full Article)

Hundreds of privacy officers, experts, consultants and vendors are headed to Boston this week for the International Association of Privacy Professional’s Privacy Academy 2009. One of the major topics of the conference will be how to prevent data breaches. I am a big fan of technology. In fact, my company leverages it to help our clients and customers in dramatic ways. However, technology is not the “magic bullet” that will eliminate data breaches – it is only part of the solution. (Read Full Article)

I am traveling to the InSight 2009 Annual Conference in Orlando this week to meet with scores of healthcare organizations struggling in the face of a growing epidemic of issues related to medical identity theft. In preparation, I have given a great deal of thought to what hospitals can and must do to protect themselves and their patients. First, let’s examine the challenges that hospitals and health providers are dealing with... (Read Full Article)

This week nearly 16 million college students will begin their annual migration back to campuses, dorms and classrooms across the country. For many of these young adults it will be the first time they have lived away from home. While this is an exciting time for them, it is also a time of heightened risks, including the risk of becoming a casualty of identity theft. (Read Full Article)

Yesterday, the Sacramento Bee published a very interesting editorial calling for merchants to take responsibility for the growing cost and burden of identity theft. Unless businesses begin to act proactively to protect consumers, expect to see more and more pressure... (Read Full Article)

There is now a clear leader in the battle to protect people from identity theft and fraud: Identity Force. Javelin Strategy & Research released its 45-page 2009 Consumer Identity Protection Services Scorecard last week and awarded Identity Force “Best-in-Class” for Fraud Alert Hybrid Services. (Read Full Article)

On April 30, less than a day before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was to begin enforcing the Red Flags Rules, the agency extended the deadline for compliance for the second time, until August 1. The 11th hour reprieve by the FTC reflects the fact that far too many organizations have either (Read Full Article)

April 22, 2009 – Identity Force released the results of a nationwide survey of health care executives today that indicates that on the eve of the May 1st Red Flags Rules enforcement deadline approximately 80 percent of hospitals are still not in compliance with federal Red Flags Rules. The surve (Read Full Article)

The massive data breach announced in January by Heartland Payment Systems continues to raise significant questions regarding the state of security in the payment industry. As many as 100 million credit card and debit cards have been compromised, impacting unknown millions of consumers, 175,000 mer (Read Full Article)

Identity Force today launched the Merchant Protection Program, the first and only data breach prevention and identity protection program developed to help consumers easily identify businesses that are committed to securing personal information and fighting identity theft. Certified merchants will display a seal on doorways and cash registers to designate that they have agreed to compliance, education and consumer protection best practices. The certification, which is priced as low as $10 per month, begins with a compliance review covering PCI standards and state and federal laws, as well as a risk assessment. (Read Full Article)

On March 2, 2009, Iona College became the first major college to create a “data breach-free campus,” and to provide proactive identity theft protection to its approximately 5,000 students, faculty and staff. Iona College is leveraging CampusWatch from Identity Force to eliminate the threat of (Read Full Article)

Monday's report by Javelin Strategy and Research confirmed what Identity Force has been predicting. The number of Americans victimized by identity theft is on the rise. In 2008, the number of identity theft cases jumped 22 percent to 9.9 million, and the total damages exceeded $48 billion. Much (Read Full Article)

Hospital Chief Information Security Officers, Compliance Officers -- in fact anyone responsible for identity theft, data breaches, and identity compliance issues -- should begin preparing now for Electronic Health Records. Congress is apt to act soon on this Obama Administration priority. In fact, (Read Full Article)

The latest report by the Identity Theft Resource Center confirms what we at Identity Force have been predicting for the past year - the threat of identity theft is increasing with each passing day. "Reported data breaches rose by approximately 50 percent and affected over 37 million people in 2008 (Read Full Article)

AHA Solutions, Inc., an American Hospital Association (AHA) company, has awarded Identity Force with the exclusive endorsement for its Identity Protection, Compliance and Data Breach Solutions. Identity Force products and services are designed to help hospitals protect patients and employees from id (Read Full Article)