While identify theft is a huge global problem, it is also a big market opportunity. Take a look at TrustedID, which develops protection solutions.

This week the company announced a $10 million round of venture capital. Its investors include Opus Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

"Our funding process went quickly and smoothly," TrustedID CEO and co-founder Scott Mitic said in a BloggingStocks interview. "The investment community likes companies with proven market demand, strong revenue growth, reasonable customer acquisition costs and a great ability to retain customers for years."

TrustedID has a unique product called IDFreeze, which actually stops ID theft before it happens. There is even a $1 million guarantee.

"ID theft is definitely getting more pervasive and more complex," said Mitic. "As with many maturing crimes, we're seeing the problem morph and change. The majority of crimes are still focused on credit-based identity theft, but those crimes are getting more aggressive and starting to target new victims - children, for example. We're also seeing growth in non-credit based identity theft - for example employment-oriented identity theft which involves the theft of SSNs for use in employment by non-documented workers."

Yes, it's scary stuff. But, at the same time, it's propelling the business at TrustedID. "We're seeing great month-to-month customer growth and revenue growth," said Mitic.

Also visit DealProfiles.com to check out other recent venture fundings.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

TrustedID gets $10 million to protect your identity originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Recently, I talked to Scott Mitic, the CEO and founder of TrustedID. His company develops products that help consumers protect themselves against identity theft.

The company is also a great source of useful information regarding identify theft, with a widely followed blog and resource center.

Well, this week he launched a search engine for identity theft: StolenID Search. Like Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), it is very easy to use. Enter your Social Security number or credit card number and you will actually see if your personal information has been stolen.

It's based on a variety of databases, which include two million pieces of information. And Scott says that he will periodically add to it. "Unfortunately, the fact is that more and more data is being stolen," he said.

So, what if your information has been stolen? Interestingly enough, the search engine provides next steps to help out.

Says Mitic: "In the first two days since the launch, we've seen tens of thousands of people searching for their information on StoldenID Search. Approximately 2% of those searches have yielded a hit, meaning a Social Security number or credit card number has been compromised. For these people it's bad news, but it's good news. We hope they'll have the chance to take steps to protect themselves before the data can be used fraudulently."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Who's stealing your personal info? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I can't remember when I last used a human broker.

A recent article in the Washington Post, however, points out certain risks involved in online trading. For example, in the third quarter, E*Trade suffered losses of $18 million because of hackers, mostly from Eastern Europe and Thailand. The company is not alone. TD AmeriTrade also had losses, but the amount was not disclosed.

Interestingly enough, the frauds are a new form of pump-and-dump. That is, a hacker takes over a customer's account and buys certain micro-cap stocks, allowing for a quick payday.

How do these hackers accomplish all this? It looks like they use spyware, which is often secretly installed on computers at libraries, airports and other public places.

The good news is that online brokers are making their customers whole. However, the law does not require them to do so.

I interviewed Scott Mitic, who is the CEO of TrustedID, a company that develops software to combat identity theft. According to him, "The increase in brokerage account fraud just shows that the target is always moving, as identity thieves hone in on the next easy target. It's a game of whack-a-mole; the thieves pop up tomorrow where no one is looking today. The lesson for American consumers is to be vigilant. Double-check URLS when logging into accounts. Use recently updated anti-spyware software. Don't trust any email you get from a bank. Avoid giving personal information to anyone who calls you, even if your caller ID appears to identity the caller as a company you know and trust. We're in an era where the problem isn't going to go away; as consumers we all just need to get smarter."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

Hackers start daytrading - with your account originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The #2 social networking site -- Facebook.com, which focuses on college students - created some social distortion this week when it launched two new features: News Feed and Mini-Feed.

Basically, this stuff allows you to track what your buddies are doing on Facebook.

Interestingly enough, it sparked an outburst of protests. Think of it as virtual sit-in, in which students mobilized using things like email, protest websites and blog posts.

The good news is that, on college campuses, such notions as privacy are highly valued. In fact, this could mean a slowdown in the growth of Facebook - allowing competitive sites to get more traction.

This also points to something else: social networking can be extremely fickle. After all, not long ago, Friendster was the #1 social networking site.

True, Facebook's twenty-something co-founder wrote a blog post to try to make things better. However, in the social networking world, loyalty can be fleeting.

I interviewed Scott Mitic, the cofounder and CEO of TrustedID, which allows consumers to prevent identity theft by controlling how their personal financial data is used.

Continue reading Facebook faces the music

Facebook faces the music originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Sep 2006 15:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.