Protect Your Identity with LifeLock

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LifeLock Linkedin for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey there.  Have you ever had your identity stolen?  It sucks.  I should know.  I've been battling with credit card companies over the validity of some credit cards that were opened under my name and it has been an extreme pain.  I've battled for well over a year or so, sent in letters, asked for proof, called constantly, and even after all that, these credit card companies still claim that those cards are mine and those charges are mine.  And those are just the beginning of the problems.  Each month those cards sit there unpaid are points being knocked off your credit score.  A bad score is detrimental to plans of owning a home or obtaining credit elsewhere!  The long term ramifications of having your identity stolen could take years before you are fully recovered!!!  So how did these people manage to steal my identity?  I don't know...  but considering the numerous ways that you identity can be stolen, you need to have someone who has your back.  You need someone like LifeLock protecting you.

So what is LifeLock?  To put it bluntly, it's identity theft protection.  It's as simple as that.  They monitor your identity and will notify you when your identity has been used to open accounts under your name.  Whether it be a cell phone or credit cards, LifeLock will catch it, notify you and if it's not yours, BLOCK IT.  They also offer internet monitoring.  And good thing too.  Many of us go online with our personal information when we purchase goods, services, and gifts.  It's just the way of life now in this digital world.  And despite the encryption protection that many websites offer, a news story breaks out that a website/server was hacked into and personal information for 100,000s of people have been compromised.  Going through that mess, it's tough to go it alone.  If that were happen, LifeLock has you covered.  They will contact the reporting agency, they will monitor your credit for any suspicious activity and they will save you time and money to make sure that your life will not be disrupted.  How dedicated is LifeLock?  They will offer you thier $1 Million Total Service Guarantee.  LifeLock will spend up to $1 Million to hire the best lawyers, investigators, and consultants to protect YOU.  The majority of us don't have a million laying around in case we need it.  It's good to know that a company like LIfeLock will back up their service with a guarantee like that.
Just to drive the point home, let me through some numbers at you.

• 11.6 million adults were victim of identity fraud in 2011 and a total of $18 BILLION was lost
• 10.1% of credit fraud victims were LinkedIn users
• Households with income exceeding $100K are more at risk and have a fraud rate of 7.4%
• 6.6% of identity fraud users were smartphone owners
• A hacker can crack your 6 character password in as little as .000224 seconds

So what kind of steps can you take to protect yourself?  How hack-friendly is your password?  A 6 character password can be cracked by professional hacker in well under a second.  That is just insane!  You need to make sure to include special characters and numbers in your password.  A 10 character password with special characters and numbers can take up to 20 days for a professional hacker to crack.  I'm sure that if they can't crack it within a couple of seconds, they'll move on to someone with a less secure password.  Imagine how quickly and easy it could be for a professional hacker to wreck havoc on your personal finances?  If you have a simple password, a pro hacker could be in your checking account stealing your money!  Or issueing a credit card for them to use!

Don't go through a credit crisis alone.  Whether have been a victim of credit fraud or want to assure that it won't happen to you, check out LifeLock today and get protected.  And if you are a member of LinkedIn, make sure to connect with LifeLock on Linkedin for a great overview of the company and what they do.  Get protected, friends.  Having to go through the credit bureaus alone to prove who you are is not as easy as you would think.  With LifeLock, they'll do it for you.  Later!