IDShield Review: Comprehensive Identity Protection with Decent Device Security

IDShield Review: Comprehensive Identity Protection with Decent Device Security

Recovering from identity theft can be a long and difficult process. Proactive measures are the best approach, and that’s what IDShield aims to provide. The service offers comprehensive identity theft monitoring, protection, and remediation. Importantly, it also provides device-level security thanks to a partnership with Trend Micro, including a security suite, a VPN, and a password manager.

While IDShield provides a compelling package, it’s worth noting that competitors like Norton 360 With Lifelock and Bitdefender Ultimate Security offer similar identity protection, but with arguably better device-level security. These factors make them the Editors’ Choice winners for identity theft protection.

IDShield’s main dashboard gives users access to all security features.

How Much Does IDShield Cost?

Identity theft protection services often come with a hefty price tag, which can significantly influence your final decision. IDShield’s individual plan, which monitors a single identity, costs $179.40 per year. Keep in mind that at this level, only one of the three major credit bureaus is monitored. Expanding monitoring to include all three bureaus will add an extra $60 per year. This plan also includes licenses for the VPN and security suite on three devices and a cross-platform password manager account.

Competitors’ pricing is relatively similar, with some offering more competitive options:

• ESET Home Security Ultimate: Costs around $179.99 per year and includes ESET’s security suite, with extras such as a VPN and password manager. The basic license covers five devices.
• Bitdefender Ultimate Security: Starting at $159.99 per year, but full identity protection requires upgrading to Ultimate Security Plus for an additional $30. This covers five devices and one identity, with monitoring of one credit bureau. The Ultimate Security Plus Extended plan costs $249.99 per year, provides three-bureau monitoring, and adds enhancements to the identity protection service.
• Norton 360 With LifeLock: The entry-level plan, which tracks one bureau, costs $149.99 per year. Higher tiers that offer three-bureau monitoring cost $259.99 and $364.99 per year respectively. These plans offer five, 10, or unlimited licenses for Norton’s VPN and award-winning security suite.
• McAfee+: The Advanced edition costs $199.99 per year. Upgrading to McAfee+ Ultimate to enhance identity features raises the price to $279.99. Identity protection is integrated into a complete cross-platform security suite. Security protection can be installed on all compatible devices within your household.
• Aura: This less expensive option protects your identity and 10 devices for $144 per year.
• IDX Complete: At $355.32 annually, this utility protects one individual and three devices. While not a full security suite, it provides VPN, password management, and other security features.

IDShield is positioned on the lower side of the price spectrum, offering a reasonable value compared to other services.

Protecting Multiple Identities With IDShield

If you are serious about protecting your entire family, IDShield offers a family plan. This approach is an important factor to consider when selecting a subscription.

• IDShield Family Plan: Costs $299.40 per year, providing protection for you, your spouse, and all minor children in your household. Additional benefits include 15 VPN and device protection licenses along with six distinct password manager profiles.
• Bitdefender Family Plans: Numerous family plans are available across all tiers, with coverage for five identities and 25 devices. A family plan at the Ultimate Plus level costs $269.99, and the maxed-out Ultimate Plus Extended subscription is $349.99.
• McAfee Family Plans: The family plans cover two adults and four children. You’ll pay $269.99 and $424.99 for the Advanced and Ultimate plans, respectively. Device-level protection is provided for every device in your household.
• Aura Family Plans: Provides flexible coverage. Aura’s Couple plan costs $264 per year and protects you and your partner. The Family plan costs $444 and protects five individuals. Device protection is provided for 10 devices per adult. Child accounts are managed by the main account holder and don’t include device protection.
• Norton Family Plans: Norton offers a wide range of pricing configurations. Standard, Advantage, and Ultimate Plus are the three tiers of device and identity protection. You can select between protecting yourself, your partner, or the two of you, in addition to up to five children. The Ultimate Plus plan for family and kids is the most expensive, costing a substantial $819.99 per year.

Getting Started With IDShield

When you sign up, you’ll receive a welcome kit via email. Keep this email, as it contains your member number, which you may need to restart your subscription. Following the instructions, you’ll create an online account with a password. Following this step is verification which will be used to confirm your identity. You will be presented with prompts that ask you for personal details supplied by credit bureaus. Once past this hurdle, you can add personal information for dark web monitoring.

Using the IDShield Dashboard

The IDShield dashboard serves as a central hub for managing your identity and security options. Its simple menu on the left side gives users the ability to navigate the features:

• Home
• Credit
• Security
• Inbox
• Account

Clicking Home will prompt you to download the IDShield app for iOS or Android. The app offers full functionality and provides push notifications.

The app provides users with notifications.

The Home page includes three simple panels which show your credit score, lists credit monitoring alerts, and provides identity protection alerts. Digging into the home page items sends you to the Credit page. Now, let’s explore the device-level protection.

Device Protection by Trend Micro

IDShield licenses device-level protection from Trend Micro, rebranding it for their service. This is completely transparent, as the device-level security comes from the Trend Micro partnership.

To protect your devices, click Security from the main menu, then internet. This reveals a list of four components:

• Reputation Management
• Password Manager
• VPN
• Anti-Malware

The last three options are Trend Micro apps. The components will be discussed below.

Trend Micro Maximum Security is offered with IDShield.

Trend Micro Maximum Security

IDShield provides a license key to install Trend Micro Maximum Security on three devices (or 15 devices if you choose the family plan). The initial installation is separate from IDShield. Trend Micro charges $99.95 per year for a five-license subscription.

For more detailed information, you can consult our Trend Micro Maximum Security review. In brief, it’s a cross-platform suite with strong features and above average security for iOS. Despite this, recent lab tests and hands-on evaluations have resulted in poor scores. While there are positives, it is not a top recommendation, earning an average of three stars.

Trend Micro VPN

Trend Micro VPN, which is also available as a standalone app, has been renamed over the last few years. As a standalone, it costs $29.95 per year (one device) and $59.95 (five devices). As with the security suite, your IDShield account lets you install VPN protection on three devices, or 15 if you choose the Family plan. Very few competitors protect less than five devices.

You get access to available servers and features, but the server and feature lists are sparse compared to top VPNs. These limitations have prevented us from putting this app through a full range of testing and evaluation.

This VPN is a modern Windows Store app that supports Windows 10 and 11, in addition to supporting the modern OpenVPN and WireGuard VPN protocols. It chooses the best-performing protocol by default.

The number of country choices varies widely among VPNs. The more choices, the better. Trend Micro VPN, offers 17 countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. City-level selection is not offered, and it doesn’t show server latency and load.

This VPN doesn’t offer some of the advanced features, such as a kill switch or split-tunneling. The VPN can report any security issues with your Wi-Fi connection and can turn on automatically if issues are detected.

Trend Micro VPN offers secure connections.

Limited Password Manager

Password management is provided by Trend Micro. For more details, read our Trend Micro Password Manager review, in which the service received two stars.. An individual subscription gets you one password manager account. The family tier allows six family members to have individual accounts.

This password manager handles the basics and syncs across your devices. The password manager uses a master password, which is separate from the Trend Micro password. During testing, the form-filling feature did not work, the password strength checker was ineffective, and the password manager lacked advanced features. Bitwarden or the free version of Proton Pass are two alternatives that outperform the password manager included with IDShield.

Thorough Dark Web Monitoring

This is a well-known feature that is featured in many password managers and antivirus apps. Identity protection includes checking the dark web to determine if any personal information has appeared in a breach. IDShield’s basic privacy monitoring goes beyond just checking to ensure your email hasn’t been breached.

To start tracking, you need to enter your personal information for monitoring. The dashboard menu that is labeled identity protect is designed to accept a variety of information, depending on your needs:

• Addresses (10)
• Bank accounts (20)
• Business licenses (1)
• Credit & debit cards (10)
• Crypto wallets (10)
• Driver’s licenses (10)
• Email addresses (10)
• Gamertags (10)
• Medical IDs (10)
• Mother’s maiden name (1)
• National provider identifier numbers (1)
• Passports (10)
• Phone numbers (10)
• Social security numbers (3)
• Usernames (10)

IDShield’s collection of personal data for tracking is comprehensive; no competitor covers more data types. It’s also the only one I’ve seen with an option to search for crypto wallet identifiers on the dark web.

The Dark Web Monitoring page tracks personal data.

IDShield’s Multi-Faceted Security Page

This page features four icons. The Internet tab is where users can install the security suite, VPN, and password manager. The other is called reputation management.

The IDShield Security page provides a list of features.

Reputation Management for Brand Building

This system is designed to improve your online presence by helping you avoid embarrassment and enhance your personal brand.

The menu offers four choices:

• Reputation Report
• Clean Up Social Media
• Improve Google Results
• Build Personal Brand

IDShield’s system looks practical and effective.

Beyond Dark Web Monitoring

IDShield’s basic privacy monitoring goes beyond just checking HaveIBeenPwned to see if your email was breached and performs a variety of other checks to ensure that nobody is abusing your identity.

When you click the Monitoring tab on the Security page, you see panels representing four types of monitoring:

• Sex Offender
• Telecom
• Social Media
• Privacy Check

Credit and Financial Monitoring

IDShield offers Financial Threshold Monitoring and Payday Loan Monitoring to ensure that any financial misbehavior is caught.

To reach these, you click Credit from the main menu and select the Monitoring icon.

IDShield takes a broader view, setting the service to alert on:

• High Credit Account Balance
• Large Credit Card Purchase
• Large Account Withdrawals
• Low Account Balance
• Net Worth Change (percentage)
• Portfolio Value Change (percentage)

Impressive Identity Theft Resource Collection

To access all your available features, click Account in the menu and select the large button labeled My Features.

The resulting page lists your features, such as:

• 24/7 emergency assistance
• Regular support during business hours
• Personal tips and insights

In addition to financial threshold monitoring, IDShield offers:

• Fraudulent new account monitoring
• Credit freeze assistance.

Other features of IDShield include:

• Monitor from one to three credit bureaus for suspicious events.
• Warnings about unusual financial actions.
• Alert to user’s personally identifiable information if exposed online.
• Monitor for fraudulent change of address events.
• Check court records.
• Monitor a broad collection of public records to safeguard user data.

Support and Remediation for Identity Theft

IDShield’s assistance promises to help users recover if they are impacted by identity theft. Your online consultant can help navigate the recovery process. IDShield promises that their agents will get you to full recovery if you’re hit by identity theft.

Verdict: Thorough Identity Protection Paired With Decent Device Security

IDShield provides strong identity protection and privacy monitoring, with some unique features like reputation management and sex offender monitoring. Because Trend Micro offers only adequate device-level security benefits, consider Norton 360 With Lifelock and Bitdefender Ultimate Security if you prioritize strong device protection. For these reasons, they are our Editors’ Choice winners.