Trend Micro ID Protection Advanced – no ID theft for you (safety review)

17/01/2024
By Ray Shaw
In Reviews

Trend Micro ID Protection is a new cloud-based service that checks all the nasty places to see if your identity has been involved in a data breach or mentioned on the dark web or social media.

We use the term cloud-based as there is nothing to install on your PC/Mac – just a website URL with a login and password. An Android/iOS app offers Wi-Fi checking and a VPN.

Cloud is a good thing; it is easier to hack your PC than Trend Micro’s rock-hard cloud servers. Unless you use Trend Micro Device Security Ultimate (Review: Trend Micro Device Security Ultimate – excellent broad-spectrum protection), which includes ID Protection Advanced, Home Wi-Fi/network protection, and so much more.

Australian Review: Trend Micro ID Protection Advanced

Website	Home Page ID Protection page
Price 17/01/24	$180 Advanced Australian Online shop currently $119
Warranty	ACL
Company	Trend Micro (Wiki) Est 1988 is a Japanese cyber security software company with global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Irving, Texas, and the United States and a global R&D headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan. Other regional offices and R&D centres are located around East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America. The company develops consumer and enterprise security software. Its cloud and virtualisation security products provide automated security for VMware, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform customers. It developed Intel and Novell LANDesk, which gave it a significant lead in protecting networks.
More	CyberShack Trend Micro news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

What does Trend Micro ID Protection Advanced do?

Check up to five email addresses for data leaks, a.k.a. Data breaches. If you were an Optus or Medibank customer, this provides peace of mind about where your details ended up.

Email address leak. Scammers buy email lists. It will search for up to five email addresses. My personal email address and password were in 15 breaches from 2019 to 2021, which is why I get so much spam! I strongly advise using a ‘junk’ email address for anything online.
Phone Number Leak. SMS scammers can reverse lookup your name and target your number with scam texts.
Credit card leak. It searches for up to 10 credit card numbers on dark web lists of compromised card numbers and alters you if there is an issue.
Physical address leak. Scammers can snail mail you or monitor your letterbox. An address can be used for high-value target kidnaps.
Driver licence leak – ditto
Passport Leak – ditto
Social Media monitor – help to protect from account takeovers on Facebook, Google, and Instagram
Password management and generation – stores all your logins, passwords, and information in a secure vault. This is a personal password manager, and you may need to look at a family-wide manager.
Wi-Fi checker – Android and iOS only – see screenshots at the end of the review.
Anti-tracking prevents cookies and trackers from harvesting your data.
Web threat protection stops online threats such as phishing scams and malicious websites downloading malware.
An Identity Theft Risk Questionnaire to help you secure your ID.

It also has appropriate guidance on what to do if your data has been compromised.

Trend Micro ID Protection Advanced includes a 12-month Equifax Credit Protect service valued at $120.

Equifax Credit Protect

Equifax, Est 1899, is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies providing credit monitoring and fraud prevention services.

Equifax Credit Protect is a credit monitoring subscription service that helps you manage your credit profile by monitoring information in your credit report, receiving alerts for key changes, and understanding what influences your credit score.

12 x Equifax Credit Reports (one every month)
Get credit alerts about key changes to your credit file
Monitor your credit reputation
Track changes to your score over time
See what is influencing your credit score

If you have been compromised via a leak, it is probably a good idea to use the 12-month subscription. If you disagree with your Credit Score, there are ways to fix that.

CyberShack’s view – Trend Micro ID Protection Advanced is like a big Aspirin

It is a fact that more than 20% of Aussies have had ID theft of some kind, costing billions of dollars. The average loss per person ranges from several thousand dollars to a complete loss in the case of a sophisticated ID scam.

Non-users may be OK if they treat the web with 100% disdain and never share data or order online. But they are a dying breed as the web is now integral to our lives. These people would benefit from a Trend Micro Bundle, including ID Protection, in which case Trend Micro Device Security Advanced or Ultimate is perfect.

Rating

We will not give it a rating as a) we generally do not review Apps, and b) we have few benchmarks. I will use this software for a year and update the review as required.

Features: It seems to cover all bases with PC/Mac, Android, and iOS.
Value: Comparable to other ID protection products. Norton ID has comparable features but includes up to $58K of insurance to cover expenses and losses related to identity theft, although it costs more.
Performance: Cloud says it all – quick, always up to date.
Ease of Use: Simple setup – no install on Windows or Mac
Design: Simple interface and lots of help pages.

Pro

Cloud-based
Easy setup
Monitors up to 10 credit cards, 5 email addresses and 5 phone numbers
You can check any email address or phone number online
You won’t know it is there until you need it

Con

It is also part of other Trend Micro bundles, so don’t double up
You may already have a paid VPN, Password Manager, etc.
Vault is for one person; some brands offer family vaults where passwords and data can be shared.