ReadITQuick Identity Theft and Cybercrime Q&A with Rick Kam
News on August 09, 2017
- Compliance and Risk
- Cyber Security
- ID Experts Services and Software
- Identity Theft and Fraud
News on August 09, 2017
Pratibha Nanduri - ReadITQuick - Aug 08, 2017
Identity theft and cybercrime are issues that are becoming bigger every day. ID Experts, a leading provider of concierge-style data breach and identity protection services, has recently introduced MyIDCare Benefits Plus, a fully-managed solution and app for identity protection that offers employees security as well as peace of mind. The solution includes identity monitoring and recovery services which are alert-based, apart from a $1 million reimbursement insurance.
We speak with Rick Kam, president and co-founder of ID Experts to find out about MyIDCare Benefits Plus, data protection, and security threats that businesses and agencies face. Rick is a privacy and information security expert and has extensive experience in helping organizations protect PHI/PII and remediate privacy incidents, identity theft, and medical identity theft. With over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Rick leads and participates in several cross-industry data privacy groups, speaks at conferences and webinars, and regularly contributes articles to industry and business publications.
Please tell us about the company ID Experts—the idea behind it, the products, and the vision for the company.
The genesis of the idea came from a presentation we had seen on identity theft insurance being offered as an employee benefit in 2002. The problem was, if an employee became a victim of identity theft, they would spend 30 to 100 hours contacting the DMV, banks, and other organizations where an identity thief had used their information. This effort would be done during 8 am to 5 pm when these organizations were open, negatively impacting their productivity at work. We realized that by offering a concierge style of identity recovery service, we could minimize the productivity impact saving the company thousands of dollars and helping the employee reduce their level anxiety and stress. Our vision is to provide an exceptional employee experience when this problem occurs, which happens to 1 in 20 employees each year.
You recently introduced MyIDCare Benefits Plus. How does this help organizations protect data and ensure its security?
The number of data breaches has increased dramatically over the past few years with over 1,000 being reported in 2016 – three breaches every day. Many of these breaches were caused by phishing attacks on employees to steal their email and passwords, which were then used by criminals to access company systems and data. MyIDCare helps make your employees aware of the current cyber threats and scams like these phishing attacks so they protect their corporate credentials and reduce the risk of a data breach occurring.
Whitepaper: Protect your Employees from the New Dangerous Realities of Identity Theft.
Does MyIDCare Benefits Plus empower employees to take on the responsibility of data protection and therefore prevent organizational security vulnerabilities due to them?
Yes. MyIDCare provides alerts for changes to financial, public records, and now medical identity information, which empowers the employee to take action and to protect themselves and improve overall cyber security at work, home, or other places where their personal information may become vulnerable.
Does MyIDCare Benefits Plus also address employee identity risks? What kind of employee identity risks does it cover?
MyIDCare covers the nine types of identity theft risk. Medical identity theft can be deadly because it can introduce false information into a person’s digital medical record. Medical identity theft also consumes medical benefits and leaves victims facing bills for medical treatments they didn’t receive. Recovery from medical identity theft is complicated because of healthcare privacy laws. As a result, individuals spend valuable time and money trying to restore their identities.
Who do you see as your top competitors? How do you differentiate your offerings/ services from those offered by your competitors?
ID protection is offered by several competitors, which include the credit bureaus and companies like Lifelock. Our differentiation starts with the concierge level of customer service, valued by employers and employees when they fall victim to identity theft. We have found over the past 14 years that this is the “moment of truth” for identity protection services. When an employee realizes they have a problem, they want a real expert to help them resolve it quickly and effectively. When their lives are turned upside down without notice, they don’t want to deal with a bot or a phone tree. They don’t want to be told that they can’t be helped because they are a victim of a credit card scam and not a real victim of identity theft. They want to talk with a human being who understands what they are going through and who has empathy. We ensure your employees get the help they need no matter what happened so they feel good about the service. We have a Net Promoter score of 64, which is exceptionally high.
What are your thoughts on the way security threats are expected to develop? How will this affect data protection? What are the major trends that would affect this segment?
We have seen identity theft migrate from being committed by organized crime groups to nation states over the past two years. We expect to continue to see this trend into the future with Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China involved in high profile cyber hacking and espionage. We also see that IoT devices are now being used to breach corporate data networks. Data protection will need to be predictive versus reactive. We will see data analytics, machine learning, AI in new products and services offered to consumers to enhance identity protection.
And how is your company equipped to be part of the growth story?
We are delivering the next generation of identity protection today by offering our patented medical identity monitoring technology as part of MyIDCare Benefits Plus. We have product enhancements planned to offer “smart alerts” that help stop identity theft before it happens by working with partners who can provide banks with data breach risk scores.
What is the one thing about ID Experts that you would like our readers to know right now?
We are the most trusted company in identity protection – protecting 25 million members with MyIDCare today.
What are the 3 top technologies the IT leaders need to watch out for?
Mobile, IOT, and wearable technology. Each of these technologies creates more end points to secure, significantly increasing the challenge for IT leaders who are charged with securing data.
Article originally published on ReadITQuick