Ray Sterns of Phoenix New Times has really been digging into LifeLock’s assurances that their service will protect you from ID theft. Back in 2007, the paper had exposed that the company’s co-founder, Robert J. Maynard Jr., had a somewhat less than stellar past and the company’s claims that he had been an ID theft victim were, well, simply untrue. But now they’ve revealed that Todd Davis, the company’s founder and public image who shares his SSN as a marketing ploy to sell ID theft services, has become the victim of ID theft numerous times. So if the service works, why are all these fraudulent charges not only showing up in his accounts, but actually getting to the point of collection agencies?
Perhaps the most blistering criticism of LifeLock was from the Chairman of the FTC, who announced a settlement in March between LifeLock, the FTC, and 35 state attorneys general. As Sterns reports:
In a made-for-TV quote, Leibowitz referenced one of Davis’ advertising stunts and told reporters, “The protection LifeLock actually provided left such a large hole in it that you could drive [a] truck right through it.”
Read the entire coverage on Phoenix New Times.
Update: Jaikumar Vijayan of IDG News Service has a response from Todd Davis to the 13 breaches described in the Phoenix New Times story. You can read it on Computerworld.