Identity Protection

• US 20080103798A1
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Identitytruth, Inc. (Experian plc)
• Original Assignee: Identitytruth, Inc. (Experian plc)
• Inventors: Seri, Iris, Domenikos, Steven D., Astras, Stamatis
• Application Number:
  US11/846,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20080103798A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a system for providing identity protection that, in one embodiment, includes a fraud model for specifying patterns of events indicative of identity fraud and a business rules subsystem used to identify fraud that is specified by the fraud models. The system aggregates data from a variety of sources, and has an analytical engine that operates on the aggregated data and determines, using the business rules, whether there are events that are correlative with the fraud models that are indicative of fraud.

Claims

1. A method for specifying an individual'"'"'s risk of identity theft, comprising:

determining a likelihood of identity theft of an individual'"'"'s assets;

specifying a risk of identity theft as a numerical measure of the determined likelihood of identity theft compared to other individuals; and

storing the numerical measure as an identity theft risk indicator for that individual.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the numerical measure is an identity health score.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the numerical measure is higher for increased risk and lower for decreased risk.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the numerical measure is lower for increased risk and higher for decreased risk.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the likelihood of identity theft comprises:

identifying credit-related assets for the individual;

determining a value of the credit-related assets that an identity thief could attack;

determining a likelihood that an identity thief would attack the identified credit-related assets; and

determining demographic information of the individual.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the likelihood of identity theft is determined at least in part by the occurrence of a particular event with respect to an individual.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the event comprises a change or addition to the individual'"'"'s personal or credit data.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the event comprises a data breach report from an organization.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the likelihood of identity theft is determined at least in part by a comparison of a fraud model with an event that occurred.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying fraud events that are likely to occur.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating to the individual the fraud events that are likely to occur.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing advice to the individual on steps to take that are relevant to fraud detected or predicted.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein specifying the risk of identity theft as a numerical measure of the determined likelihood of theft compared to other individuals comprises determining the occurrence of identity theft for individuals with a demographic profile.

14. A method for specifying an individual'"'"'s risk of identity theft, comprising:

identifying credit-related assets for an individual;

determining a value for the credit-related assets that an identity thief could attack;

determining the likelihood that an identity thief would attack the identified credit-related assets;

determining demographic information of the individual;

specifying the risk of identity theft as a risk indicia in response to the determined value, the determined likelihood, and the demographic information; and

communicating the risk indicia to the individual.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the risk indicia comprises an identity health score.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the risk indicia is higher for increased risk and lower for decreased risk.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the risk indicia is lower for increased risk and higher for decreased risk.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the likelihood of identity theft is determined at least in part by the occurrence of a particular event with respect to an individual.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the event comprises a change or addition to the individual'"'"'s personal or credit data.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the event comprises a data breach report from an organization.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the likelihood of identity theft is determined at least in part by a comparison of a fraud model with an event that occurred.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising identifying fraud events that are likely to occur.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising communicating to the individual the fraud events that are likely to occur.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising providing advice to the individual on steps to take that are relevant to fraud detected or predicted.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein specifying the risk of identity theft comprises determining the occurrence of identity theft for individuals with a demographic profile.