Opinion on IDX - Credit monitoring system

[Hallo basu]

Hi all,

I received a complimentary 2-yr free offer for credit monitoring services by IDX. My hospital encountered a security breach and my personal data "may" have been compromised, as per the hospital. To make amends, the hospital offered the credit monitoring services. When I signed up for the services, IDX is requesting for my SSN that will help me attain a better level of protection.

Has anyone used IDX before? Is it ok to give my SSN to them? Any comments are appreciated.

Regards.

[Hiker-Biker]

I have no experience with any credit monitoring firms. I would put a freeze on all your credit. That way, no one can open up credit using your personal information without unlocking your credit freeze first.

[nisiprius]

I have no idea. I signed up with IDX a few weeks ago, for the same reason. But I do not have a good feeling about them. Starting with the fact that aren't the big famous IDX, IDX Systems Corporation, but some weird little IDX, IDX Breach Response Solutions. Continuing with the fact that they immediately began trying to upsell me for additional paid-for services. And continuing even farther with the fact that my credit card company's credit score feature sent me an alert about a password of mine that it said was circulating on the Dark Web...* while IDX's password testing feature says that it is not circulating on the Dark Web. (I changed it, of course.)

These days I don't fuss too much about disclosing my Social Security number (SSN) because that's a lost cause.

My credit is frozen at Equifax, Experian, Transunion, AND Innovis, AND Chexsystems.

*More specifically, that my account information, including password, at a specific company, was circulating. They indicated what company, but not the actual password.

[Hallo basu]

Thanks for the responses to all. I will go ahead and put a freeze. Any suggestions how long the freeze should be for?

[Hiker-Biker]

Thanks for the responses to all. I will go ahead and put a freeze. Any suggestions how long the freeze should be for?

I just leave my credit frozen unless I need to apply for new credit which is rare.

[Cruise]

After the 2015 OPM data breach (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of ... ata_breach) of millions of federal government records, the feds signed me up for the predecessor of IDX, which was MyIDCare. I've continued to be signed up with IDX eight years later, courtesy of Uncle Sam. They will cover me until 2026. Seems like a good service.

One of the great benefits of having your data breached by Chinese security services, is that your Linkedin Profile gets lots of hits with invitations from attractive women. Seriously.

[nisiprius]

Another thing that makes me uneasy about IDX is that they have a .us rather than a .com domain. I don't know how to interpret this and some may make fun of me for fussing about it, but (a) idx.com is not presently active, and (b) ICANN's whois tool says it belongs to General Electric. If IDX were the kind of substantial firm I would want them to be, then, particularly given that idx.com is not in use, I would have moved heaven and earth to buy the domain from GE.

Also, in addition to having solicited me to buy paid services, there is a gentle nag every time I sign in: the main service, Cyberscan, says:

Add more data to find exposures. Adding more data to CyberScan™ will increase your protection against nefarious activity.

And there is a checkbox to allow me to do that.

No, thanks. I can't think of any particular reason to distrust IDX, but I don't see any reason to trust them particularly either. Beyond of course the obvious thought that is hard to shut off, that "of course any company that is in the breach response business must have great security itself, because they wouldn't dare not to, and because surely big important companies that have had data breaches wouldn't use them if they weren't good."

The very fact that they are "a ZeroFox company" doesn't make me happy, either. I never heard of ZeroFox before, but I find that they are a listed company (ZFOX) with a market cap of only $124 million whose stock price has been falling... Now many of ZeroFox's 531 employees are in the IDX division?

Yes, Total Stock does hold ZFOX... and I see that ZFOX hasn't been doing great lately...



...suggesting the kind of possible turmoil in which they might get sloppy about processes and procedures. ("Hey, Cynthia, this says we are overdue to reframmicate the phragma scanner, who does that?" "That was Joe, but he was laid off the other day, I'm not sure who does that now...")

Like I said... I signed up. I'll use it for the free two years. They did not ask for a credit card number so I'm not worried about autorenew. But I don't trust them particularly.