But wait, there's more! I asked #IdentityDefense to email me a chat transcript, and below is the entire email I received. Strange that there doesn't appear to actually be a chat transcript there.
Well, see, it's in the email, but you can't see it, because the email is a multipart/alternative MIME message, and they put the transcript in the text/plain part but not the text/html part. This is a *stunning* level of incompetence.

But wait, there's more. Here's the catastrophically bad chat I had with #IdentityDefense's #AI #bot (#fail!):

But wait, there's more!
Before I was able to reach someone at #IdentityDefense on the phone, I tried using their live chat to get support.
Their web site claims agents are available "9 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time," but I got connected to an AI bot, not a live agent, and the AI bot was unable to transfer me to a live agent after it failed to answer my question.
So, did they forget to mention that live chat agents are only available Monday to Friday, or are they lying about having them at all?

OK, so, I finally got to someone from #IdentityDefense on the phone, and apparently the reason why it's failing is because they can't match up the email address or phone number I gave them with what's in my #TransUnion credit report.
Note: I gave them a unique #AnonAddy email address and my Google Voice # instead of my cell #, for privacy and identity protection reasons. So, again, their site can't cope with people who are already taking steps to protect their online identities. Awesome!

But wait, there's more!
I attempted to call #IdentityDefense on the phone to get my account unlocked so I could try the identity verification again, as instructed by their web site.
Their voice response system put me on hold and played annoying music for four minutes and then the call was disconnected.

Here's today's example of how all the #identityProtection companies are incompetent.
This is a screenshot from the enrollment process at #identityDefense.com.
Notice that the first field is asking me for a date but not telling me what date I'm supposed to enter.
I'm guessing they're asking for my birth-date, but I shouldn't have to guess.
Did anybody test this before they released it, and if so, are the testers so incompetent that they failed to flag this issue?
#infosec #privacy #identityTheft

One of the free identity theft monitors we got as the result of a #dataBreach (#IdentityDefense) has informed my wife that her #SSN was in the #NPD breach Duh, hers and 100s of millions of others.
This is their mostly useless advice for what to do.
It's RIDICULOUS to advise people to freeze their credit report AFTER someone commits fraud with their SSN.
And how well do you think the IRS will handle it if everyone impacted contacts them "for protection against tax refund fraud"?
#privacy #infosec