Technologies

Best Identity Theft Protection and Monitoring Services for 2023

Got a hunch that someone’s ruining your credit? These identity theft protection services can help you find out — and fight back.

Identity theft is no joke: It’s a serious threat with the potential to destroy your entire life if you aren’t careful. And according to the Identity Theft Research Center, these cybercrimes are on the rise, with data compromises increasing by 68% in 2021 alone. This is why you need to protect yourself with one of the best identity theft protection services available.

Falling victim to one of these crooks could result in your credit being directly attacked. They might even commit other crimes and cause additional problems with your stolen identity. Your Social Security number, bank account and more are at risk, which is why you need to be proactive in protecting yourself.

The best way to safeguard your personal information is to make use of the best identity theft protection services to suit your needs. These services typically offer ID protection, credit monitoring and more to keep your sensitive data away from prying eyes. Our top picks for the best identity theft protection and monitoring services can help safeguard your identity and proactively monitor suspicious activity and assist with recovery if you become a victim of a data breach.

ID theft protection is only going to become more essential. In 2019 alone, there were more than 13 million US identity fraud cases, with victims losing nearly $17 billion, along with untold damage to credit reports. The 2017 Equifax breach was the icing on a nasty cake — one that got even worse in the following years. One of the biggest 2020 data breaches was the Marriott hack, which affected over 5 million customers. That followed an earlier breach of Marriott’s Starwood reservation system, in which the personal information of more than 380 million guests was compromised, including more than 5 million passport numbers
.

In this directory, we’ll look at some of the best options for helping you manage and protect your identity at various price levels. We’ll also explain the difference between an identity theft protection company and a credit monitoring service. Before we get started, keep in mind that you don’t have to spend $10 to $30 a month for the best identity theft protection service. The US government offers IdentityTheft.gov, an identity restoration service that can help a victim report and recover from identity theft.

Read more: How to Prevent Identity Theft

We’ll jump straight to the top choices for the best identity theft protection service options for ID monitoring, credit monitoring and more. Keep reading to review additional important information and facts about ID theft and ID protection. This list is updated frequently.

How much? Pricing compared
Not recommended: Equifax and TrustedID
Identity theft: What you need to know

What about Equifax and TrustedID?

Ah, Equifax. If you already have an ID monitoring service, it may well be because of this company, which is the poster child for bad security. One of the big three credit reporting agencies, Equifax had no less than five major data breaches in 2017, affecting nearly every American who has a credit history. In the months that followed, we learned that things may have somehow even been worse than originally known.

And the company’s ham-fisted response to each data breach made matters worse: At one point, the company was directing users to a fake help site. And the site it set up to provide free credit account monitoring after the data breach was originally also vulnerable to hackers.

Heads rolled, executives left, and the company’s reputation is in tatters. And yet, thanks to a tepid response from the federal government, it’s unclear if anything has really changed. Equifax remains one of three major companies — Experian and TransUnion being the other two — that pass judgment on whether we’re all credit-worthy.

For better or worse, many people took advantage of Equifax’s offer of a free year’s membership to TrustedID, its commercial identity theft service. But that offer — originally available to anyone with a Social Security number — has ended. (It required that you register by Jan. 31, 2018.)

The service provides a copy of your Equifax credit report, a lock on your Equifax data by third parties (with some exceptions), credit monitoring from all three credit bureaus, monitoring of your SSN on what Equifax calls «suspicious» websites and a very limited $1 million identity theft insurance policy.

We understand if you took advantage of the offer while it was free. That said, we just can’t recommend doing business with a company that has demonstrated such contempt for security protocols — let alone customers. Any of the alternative protection services listed above would be a better option.

Pricing compared

The base prices of each service are presented below, from lowest to highest. Note that the more expensive ones almost always offer additional perks, such as more frequent credit reports from credit bureaus.

*Offers 60-day money back guarantee.

Identity theft: What you need to know

These are some key things to keep in mind about the best identity theft protection and ID monitoring services.

Early detection is key. If you’re signing up for one of these protection services, it’s less about preventing the initial breach and saving you from being a victim of identity theft — that’s somewhat out of your hands, unfortunately. Instead, the best identity theft protection is about getting a heads-up as soon as possible on suspicious activity to prevent you from needing to do a credit freeze or more to stop an identity thief. Whether your credit card has charges on it you never incurred, or you suddenly discover that loan collectors are trying to collect amounts you never borrowed, thanks to thieves halfway across the country — or thieves halfway around the world — who opened a credit card or applied for a loan in your name, seeing the suspicious activity early on is the name of the game. The scary fact is that these breaches can cost you a lot of money and identity theft monitoring can alert you to a problem before it becomes too big to handle.

Knowing how your personal information is being used is a big step to keeping yourself safe. There are identity theft protection companies that can help you monitor your personal information, get notified if your accounts and personal information are being misused by thieves and if you should get a credit freeze, and even get you reimbursement after the fact.

None of these protection services will monitor your actual banking activity. I have long recommended a way to protect yourself from becoming a victim of most banking fraud, which is to examine all your accounts once a week. It’s a bit of a pain, but just in my family, we’ve found numerous fraudulent activities and charges over the years. By doing this practice regularly, we’ve saved thousands of dollars. Consumer Reports recommends you do all your own monitoring, too.

That said, if you’re not the type of person who is willing or able to take the time to do the constant due diligence necessary to protect your identity, some of these protection services can help.

Read the fine print. Finally, because each of these protection services offers vastly different terms and conditions, we’ve included an easy link to each company’s terms of service. Be sure to take the time to read all of their fine print before you sign up for another monthly or yearly fee.

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Technologies

Sora and Google’s Nano Banana Pro Are Slammed, and Scale Back Free Videos and Images

OpenAI and Google are reducing the number of image or video requests you can make on their latest media-generation platforms.

Maybe it’s because of the holiday weekend.

OpenAI’s video generator Sora and Google’s image generator nano banana pro are placing new limits on how many videos (in the case of Sora) and AI images (in the case of nano banana pro) you can make per day.

With more people using their Thanksgiving weekend idle time to, say, make AI videos of cats as angry service industry cashiers, it’s likely these services are hitting their limits.

Bill Peebles, OpenAI’s head of Sora, posted on X, «our gpus are melting, and we want to let as many people access sora as possible!» GPUs are the graphics processing units used by AI services for the complex computations they need to perform.

Peebles wrote that Sora will limit free video generation to six videos per day. ChatGPT Plus and Pro accounts won’t see any changes.

«And everybody can purchase additional gens as needed,» he wrote.

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Gemini limits

As for Google’s image generator, a Gemini support page says that those without a Google AI plan are now limited to two images generated and edited per day with nano banana pro. The previous limit was three, according to 9to5Google, which also spotted new usage limits on Gemini 3 Pro that are variable. The same support page says free access to Gemini 3 Pro Thinking includes «Basic access — daily limits may change frequently.»

The limit for nano banana (the previous 2.5 non-pro version) is 100 free images per day.

A representative for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Technologies

If You Don’t Want to Pay AirPod Prices, I Found Great Noise Canceling Earbuds That Are Only $53 for Black Friday

You don’t need to spend a fortune to get a great pair of earbuds.

Black Friday deal alert: If you’re looking for a new pair of noise-canceling earbuds, there are some good deals on Apple AirPods right now, but you might be able to spend half as much to get similar performance. I’ve found that the Air Pro 4 earbuds from Earfun are legitimate contenders to the AirPods, at a much lower price. Right now at Amazon for Black Friday, you can get the Air Pro 4s for a steal — they’re 34% off, which drops their price down to $53.

In short, they’re great, and the black ones are currently available on Amazon for $53, near the lowest price we’ve ever seen them sell for. The other colors are also on sale; the glossy white and royal blue are both $68.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones (Black):

$248 (save $152)
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$170 (save $181)
Apple AirPods Max ANC Wireless Headphones (USB-C Charging, Midnight):

$400 (save $150)
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Lunar Blue):

$299 (save $130)
Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones:

$199 (save $150)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

How these earbuds silence the noise around you

I prefer in-ear headphones because they offer active, electronic and passive noise cancellation. Passive noise cancellation basically consists of plugging your ears with the rubbery tips included with the earbuds.

The Earfuns fit well for me when I use the second-largest of the five swappable ear tip sizes, and they stay sealed and comfortable for hours. Sometimes I have to reseal one after I yawn or something, but that’s the case with other in-ear headphones, too.

For reading, I prefer Earfun’s «Strong ANC» noise-canceling mode, which makes a big difference when blocking out the noise around you, but there are a bunch of other noise-cancellation options. The Ambient Sound function is good for when I want to pay attention to my surroundings.

Overall, I found the app easier to use than Sony’s and just as capable. The main difference is that Sony’s app has a variable slider for ambient sound.

The Earfun app also includes a white noise section in the app. Normally, I prefer Spotify for white noise (and I download my favorite playlists for offline listening) but this feature is useful for people who don’t have another music service. It includes birdsong, waves and rainfall, all of which are short clips that repeat automatically.

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Why I chose these earbuds over AirPods

These headphones have every other feature I’d expect, including the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously and programmable touch-sensitive controls on the buds. Plus, battery life has been more than ample for me, even after a marathon reading session.

There’s also a finder function if you misplace either earbud (unlike Apple FindMy, however, they have to be connected and in Bluetooth range). For actual music and voice calling quality, they sound fine, albeit not as good as my big Sonys.

I have an iPhone and briefly thought about buying Apple AirPods, but I didn’t want to spend the money. The AirPods 4 with noise cancellation cost $115 more than these Earfuns and have an open-ear design, so they rely entirely on the electronic (not passive) method. The AirPods Pro 2 are in-ear and superb, but I didn’t want to spend $250 on a pair of secondary headphones.

Yes, I could probably save some money on an even less expensive pair of in-ear noise-cancelling headphones, but I’m not sure I’d be as happy with their fit, long-term comfort, battery life and noise-cancellation performance. The Earfun Pro 4 buds help me relax and concentrate on my book, and for me that’s priceless.

For more headphone savings, check out our roundup of all the best deals on headphones, or find bargains of all kinds in our roundup of the best Amazon Prime Day deals going on now.

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Technologies

I Have a Flashlight Fetish and My Favorite New Olight Is 20% Off for Black Friday

Olight’s sleek new pocket flashlight, the ArkPro, is normally $100. But it’s down to $80 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Truth be told be told, I have a thing for flashlights. Not a bad thing, just a certain appreciation for a well-designed torch, as the Brits might say.

Bright flashlights are good, naturally, but a small, sleekly designed rechargeable everyday carry flashlight that puts out a decent amount of light is high on my list of flashlight favorites, and the new Olight ArkPro and its slightly brighter sibling, the ArkPro Ultra, fit the bill. They’re both on sale for Black Friday and Cyber Monday for 20% off. The ArkPro is down to $80 ($100 list) while the ArkPro Ultra’s price has dipped to $104 ($130 list).

The flashlights are upgraded versions of Olight’s Arkfeld Pro ($70) and Arkfeld Ultra ($84), with higher brightness ratings. Both new models have similar flat, IPX7 waterproof designs with sturdy metal bodies and a magnetic base that allows you to attach the flashlight to anything metal. There’s also an integrated clip-on mount, and they come in cool white and neutral white color temperature versions.

You get three lighting modes: a 1,500-lumen floodlight mode (1,700 lumens for the ArkPro Ultra), an 800-lumen, 205-meter reach spotlight mode (it’s the same for the Ultra) and a UV light mode. You can also activate a green beam laser pointer.

The flashlights come with a wireless charger that magnetically attaches to the base, but you can also charge them via USB-C, which I found more convenient.

I mainly tested the flashlights while walking my dog at night in a pretty remote rural area in New York. The floodlight mode works better for dog walking, but I’d sometimes switch to spotlight mode when I wanted to gauge what was further ahead of us or check whether anything was lurking in the trees or bushes.

These smaller EDC flashlights are well-suited to a variety of activities, including camping and anything you’re doing where you’d like to have a flashlight handy that you can easily carry around in a pocket. You can find similar flat flashlight designs from other brands on Amazon — some of them for significantly less money. However, Olight is considered a premium EDC flashlight brand, though some flashlight enthusiasts are less enthusiastic about the brand for a few reasons. That said, I’m just fine recommending these new ArkPro models when they’re discounted like this. And they do make for nice gifts this time of year.