- Account takeover alerts
- 24/7 identity theft help
- High membership fees
- Plans start at $9.99/mo.
At a basic level, LifeLock is a monitoring service. LifeLock surveys and inspects locations, platforms, and services where your identity-related information (like Social Security number, credit card information, or driver’s license number) is stored. LifeLock will alert you to any suspicious behavior or indications that your information has been stolen. Signing up for a LifeLock package does not guarantee that your identity won’t be stolen—the company is simply a watchdog for red flags.
LifeLock Pros and Cons
Pros
- 60-day money-back guarantee
- Identity restoration specialists
- 24/7 identity theft support
- Personal loss reimbursement
Cons
- Increasing membership fees
- Vague notifications
- Delayed alerts
- Past data breaches
LifeLock Plans and Pricing
| Monthly Cost (First Year) |
| Monthly Cost (Second Year) |
| Alerts |
| Stolen Fund Reimbursement |
| Active Monitoring |
| Standard | Advantage | Ultimate Plus |
| $9.99 | $19.99 | $29.99 |
| $11.99 | $22.99 | $34.99 |
| Credit Social Security number Identity fraud Data breach |
Bank Credit Social Security number Identity fraud Data breach |
Bank Credit Social Security number Identity fraud Data breach |
| $25,000 | $100,000 | $1 million |
| 1 credit bureau Dark web |
1 credit bureau Dark web Crime reports |
3 credit bureaus Dark web Crime reports Sex offender registry |
| View Plan | View Plan | View Plan |
Data effective 6/14/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.
LifeLock’s upper-tier plans are more comprehensive than those offered by similar services, but you pay a lot more for features like million-dollar reimbursements and file-sharing network protection that most people don’t need to worry about. We’re also not fans of the introductory price that then goes up a year after you subscribe, no matter what plan you choose.
The plans work like a subscription service with annual renewals, but you can cancel at any time. If you pay annually, you can get a prorated refund of any months you’ve already paid for.
Identity Alerts
Despite its name, LifeLock’s identity theft protection works less like a lock and more like a security system. LifeLock watches for suspicious activity on your credit report and will alert you if something looks fishy so you can take steps to fix it. It won’t prevent people from getting access to your information, but it will give you the opportunity to stop the fraudulent activity before they get away with much.
On the downside, the LifeLock fraud alerts are often vague and confusing. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether the “suspicious activity” that triggered the alert was you doing your daily business or identity thieves using your account. Also, because LifeLock checks multiple credit bureaus for its top-tier plans, you may get multiple fraud alerts about the same activity.
One of LifeLock’s biggest strengths is the Bank Account Takeover Alert. We talked to Susan Quackenbush, a credit fraud investigator for Capitol One, who told us that thieves often change names and addresses on existing bank and credit accounts to take them over—it’s one of the most common ways of stealing account information. Quackenbush says even many of the best identity theft protection companies don’t monitor that kind of fraud activity. LifeLock does, but the alert is available only with the most expensive Ultimate Plus plan.
LifeLock App
The LifeLock app comes free with every plan, and it gets high ratings from both Android and iOS users. The app lets you see the different ways LifeLock monitors your identity, and it lets you check your credit score. We think the best feature is the in-app communication that lets you talk directly to identity theft experts 24/7 by either messaging or calling. If you lose your wallet or your driver’s license or get an alert that your private information has been stolen, having someone to walk you through important next steps can take a huge weight off your shoulders.
Norton Antivirus
LifeLock has teamed up with Norton Antivirus to give you virus protection on up to five devices, including laptops, desktops, phones, and tablets. Protection is optional, so if you already have an antivirus that works for you, you can opt out. But Norton Security (aka, Symantec) has some of the best anti-malware products around, and its most recent tests from AV-Comparatives showed that it scored well protecting against spyware, malware, and other viruses that could infect your device and leak your personal information. The only thing we don’t like about the included Norton Antivirus software is that it doesn’t work on iOS devices.
Customer Service
Most of the glowing reviews from customers have to do with LifeLock’s experts helping them recover from identity theft. Less-than-stellar reviews are usually about billing, with customers continuing to get charged for cancelled memberships. Account access is another sore point—several members report being unable to access their accounts and receiving very little assistance from LifeLock customer service.
Note:
In our research we discovered that in 2015 LifeLock was ordered to pay a settlement for false advertising and failure to protect customers’ sensitive information, among other offenses. We also discovered that the company suffered an email leak in 2018, putting its customers’ privacy at risk. Keep in mind that the fact that you have to give over so much personal information to an identification theft protection service can make it your Achilles’ heel if it were to ever get hacked.
How LifeLock Stacks Up
| Credit Monitoring |
| Identity Theft Insurance |
| Computer and Internet Protection |
| Additional Protection |
| Starting Monthly Fee |
 |
 |
 |
| LifeLock | IdentityForce | IdentityGuard |
| 1-bureau monitoring | None | None |
| $1 million + $25,000 stolen funds reimbursement |
$1 million | $1 million |
| Dark web monitoring | Dark web monitoring Social media monitoring |
Dark web monitoring Safe browsing tools |
| Social Security number and credit card alerts | Sex offender registry monitoring | Risk management report |
| $9.99 | $17.95 | $8.99 |
| Visit LifeLock |
Visit IdentityForce | Visit IdentityGuard |
Based on each company’s most basic plan. Data effective 6/14/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.
LifeLock’s main selling point compared to its competitors is its $25,000 insurance policy that covers out-of-pocket expenses if your identity or wallet is stolen. This reimbursement is more clearly defined than the vague million-dollar “identity theft insurance” promise offered by both LifeLock and its competitors.
FAQs
Can LifeLock help if my identity has already been stolen?
Like an insurance company, LifeLock can’t help with reimbursement of personal expenses after your identity has been stolen, but it can help you with identity protection going forward.
How can I protect my child’s identity?
Protect your child’s Social Security number by keeping their Social Security card and other personal information in a safe place. Don’t give their Social Security number out to anyone unless you know specifically how it will be used. Keep an eye out for any pre-approved credit card offers in their name, and request their credit report from a major credit reporting bureau. If their identity hasn’t been stolen, they won’t have a credit report yet. To further protect your child’s identity, you can request that a credit report be created and then put a freeze on it to prevent any activity until they’re old enough to use it.1
What is two-factor authentication?
Two-factor authentication is a way of protecting a private account—like a bank account—by requiring you to provide two forms of proof of access. One is usually a password, but the other could be a PIN number, an answer to a security question, or even a thumbprint ID. This type of authentication adds another layer of protection to your personal accounts.
Conclusion
If you want complete coverage, LifeLock’s top-tier Ultimate Plus plan is a good choice, but it’s pricey. The lower-tier plans are less expensive, but they have enough holes in their identity protections that they just aren’t worth the monthly fees. LifeLock’s history with the FTC is also troubling, and we don’t like how it can change the rates for its services each year. LifeLock is almost a good option, but with the exception of the top-tier plan, we can’t recommend it as a whole for your identity protection. We recommend shopping around to find a stronger identity protection service.
How We Reviewed LifeLock
We studied how the company monitors credit reports and other indicators of identity theft and compared its methods and pricing with similar services. We looked at the Better Business Bureau to find customer complaints against LifeLock, and we also checked into the company’s history to learn of any data breach issues. Our full methodology explains more about the process we use to review products.
Sources:
- Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information, “Child Identity Theft”
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