The Value of knowing a CITRMS

My New designation as a CITRMS (Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist) affords me the opportunity to speak to issues pertaining to identity theft in the workplace and how it effects the lives of your clients. as I speak with business owners everyday they are more and more aware that their businesses are in danger because of the massive amounts of non-public information they store on their customers. Their biggest challenge is that their employees don't quite value their business the same way. What I mean is that business owners realize that if any of their customers identity is breached and the initiation of the breach leads back to them, the consequences could cost them dearly.

Rather it's the employee or the business owner, identity theft can cause a nightmare in a person's life. Just imagine someone purchasing a home in your name? Just imagine someone taking out a loan in one of your client's names? Just imagine being the person who sold the home or the person who originated the loan? These are troubling things to think about.

While identity theft can't be stopped there are a few things that people out to be aware of. Our credit identity is not the only identity thieves want. There are actually five areas of identity theft and credit is near the bottom of the list believe it or not.

Here are the five areas of identity theft:

1. Driver's License Identity
2. Social Security Identity
3. Character/Criminal Identity
4. Medical Identity
5. Credit Identity

As you can see any when any of these areas are breached there is not just a chance a person will have challenges. The reality is that we are identified with the numbers all of these areas of identity have. It's not how we look or who identifies us as who we say we are. These forms of identity are our proof that we are who we say we are. If another person has your identity, they can in fact prove they are are you (at least for a while). Although we can get our identity restored, the problems from the time you discover it's been breached to the time it's restored (about 600 man hours later) can be unreal.
Most people realize that identity theft can no more be stopped just as burglary can't be stopped. But just like the installation of an alarm can curtail burglars, so can identity theft coverage curtail identity thieves. The only difference here is, although you might get your items replaced after you have been burglarized, you don't want a replacement identity, you want your identity. Our identity is really all we truly have. Stuff can be bought again if it's broken or stolen. But our identity is ours until we die and even after we die.

The answer to the challenge of identity theft is not easy but it is one that is being studied by our government, researchers and colleges and universities. But what do you and your clients do in the mean time? Just like you got the alarm, get identity theft coverage. The key is getting coverage that provides daily monitoring of the five areas of identity theft and restoration of your identity if it's breached.

Ced Reynolds