Now owned by Bank of America, Countrywide will now provide free credit monitoring for up to 17 million people whose financial information was exposed. The group includes those who obtained a mortgage with and those whose mortgages were serviced by the company.

For those whose identity was stolen as a result of the breach, reimbursements could be as high as $50,000.

For those who are LifeLock Command Center™ customers, if a situation such as this one arises, you can breathe easy. In addition to eRecon™, which monitors the Web for the illegal selling or trading of your personal information, LifeLock customers can also get Personal Breach Detection ™ services, which monitors the unregulated Internet and file sharing networks for your identity information. If LifeLock finds you are at risk, you’ll be notified immediately by e-mail and you’ll be protected against accidental personal information disclosures.

According to some sources, the number of personal records that were exposed by hackers last year rocketed up to 220 million, compared to 35 million in 2008. That’s the largest collection of lost data on record.

The most frightening thing is that many of these data breaches never get reported, and the people whose data is lost never know about it. Their personal information could be at risk – and they wouldn’t even be able to take action to protect it.

That’s where LifeLock comes in. If you’re a LifeLock customer, you won’t have to scramble to take care of your personal information. And if you don’t know it’s in jeopardy, you’re covered.

Call LifeLock today.

Receive 30 days free and get a 10 percent discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”

More than 52% of all identity theft victims discovered they were victims by monitoring their accounts with some sort of monitoring service. That’s approximately 5 million people, and the tales of identity theft are cropping up all over the United States at an alarming rate, and are on the rise internationally as well. The numbers will continue to grow as identity thieves get younger and smarter.

The age of checks is going away and is being replaced by debit or credit cards, but that opens up even more problems. If you use the internet to pay your bills or purchase items, you are at immense risk, even if you have virus protection and a firewall on your computer. Monitoring your identity information is a major step toward making sure you don’t fall victim to identity theft.

LifeLock’s Personal Breach Detection™ Service, part of the LifeLock Command Center, actively monitors unregulated global networks for your identity information. If LifeLock finds you are at risk, you’ll be alerted by email immediately. LifeLock works to protect your personal information not only on your own computer, and on other computers that may store your information and participate in peer-to-peer file sharing.

LifeLock Identity SDS™ (Search, Detect, Secure) Service  to identify changes to your identity and personal information. These non-credit related sources include public and court records, payday loans, sex offender registry and address verification. The system even monitors for alternate names associated with other pieces of your identity, such as your Social Security number and driver’s license, found in public records.

One example of how easy it is to access your information on any computer occurred when University of Florida officials had to notify more than 330,000 current and former dental patients that an unauthorized intruder had accessed a College of Dentistry computer server, giving the intruder access to each patient’s personal information. There has been no evidence that any of the information has been used fraudulently.

Information stored on the server included names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers and dental procedure information for patients, dating back to 1990.

UF officials noticed the breach and immediately disconnected the server from the internet to cut off the intruder’s access. The system has since been rebuilt with even more stringent security controls.

But despite the university’s previous efforts at security, the intruder was able to gain access. What if you had been one of those patients, and your information had been accessed and used?

As a LifeLock subscriber, you would have no worries. The breach would have been discovered early on, most likely before any damage could be done. And even if the thief had been able to use your information, LifeLock would have worked to restore your good name.

Peace of mind…priceless.

Receive 30 days free and get a 10% discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”

The tumult began last fall when Express Scripts revealed they had received a ransom demand from hackers who threatened to release the members’ personal information if Express Scripts refused to make the payoff.

The data kidnappers lent credibility to their claim by sending Express Scripts the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of 75 members. In some cases, members’ prescription histories were included.

In response, Express Scripts not only refused to pay the ransom, but defiantly offered a widely publicized $1 million reward. They also notified the 75 members whose information was compromised.

The extortionists then issued another salvo by sending more threats and more employee information to some of Express Scripts’ largest customers, including Toyota and federal government agencies.

At that point, Express Scripts sent out another round of data breach notifications and ID theft warnings to employees of the organizations that received the second round of extortion attempts.

Just two weeks ago Express Scripts announced they were sending data breach notifications to 1,771 New Hampshire residents whose data was recently found to be among the stolen information.

Express Scripts has steadfastly refused to acquiesce to the criminals’ ultimatum and has continued to participate in an ongoing FBI investigation. The amount of the ransom demand has never been made public.

The Saint Louis-based firm is the fifth-largest prescription benefits management in the world with roughly 50 million customers.

College employees were upgrading a server October 3 when they discovered that an unauthorized user had accessed the data and remotely installed software. The hacker was able to access patients’ names, addresses, birthdates and Social Security numbers.

Even if this data breach had been the only such incident in UF’s recent history, the number of people affected makes it bad news. But, because there have been 15 others over the past year, it raises questions about how seriously the university takes privacy protection.

Data breaches at universities account for less than 5 percent of all data breaches, according to Rodney Petersen, security task force coordinator for a non-profit that promotes information technology in higher education.

He said it’s typical for a large university to have three to five incidents in the last couple years. “Having incidents in the double digits is probably larger than usual.”

“They aren’t doing enough to protect their clients’ information,” said George Baldacchino. His information was part of a data breach that occurred in 2005 when a laptop was stolen that contained records of 3,800 patients at Shands at the University of Florida.

Baldacchino says he’ll never go again to any of the clinics operated by the university. “Life is stressful enough.”

LifeLock’s identity theft protection can reduce the stress in your life, too. Visit their website at LifeLock.com to learn more about their comprehensive identity theft protection tools and processes, and find out why almost 1.5 million Americans have chosen Life Lock. Enroll using the LifeLock promotional code Defense and get a discount on service.