3 Ideas to Profit from Identity Theft Protection

We don’t need anyone to tell us that identity theft is a problem. And it is rapidly growing. Market.us reports that the Identity Theft Protection Services Market size was $12.5 billion last year and is forecast to grow to $34.7 billion by 2032—up an astonishing 12.4% per year!

You can easily see that progression in the following graph.

I have had brushes with ID theft several times—through hacking of my debit card (twice), my PayPal account (twice) and my primary credit card (three times). It’s a pain to reset all your automatic charges and get new cards, but it’s nothing compared to major cases of ID theft, such as the one experienced by a friend four years ago.

Her husband had just passed away from a long illness, and right after his funeral, she found out that almost all of her bank and credit cards had been hacked!

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It was a nightmare, and one that took more than a year and a half to resolve. And no, the authorities never found out who was responsible for this horrendous experience.

There are many types of identity theft, but these five seem to be the most common:

1. Criminal Identity Theft: Posing as another person while committing a crime.

2. Financial Identity Theft: Using someone else’s identity to obtain credit, goods, and services.

3. Medical Identity Theft: Using another’s ID to obtain medical care or drugs.

4. Identity Cloning: Using someone else’s information to assume his or her identity.

5. Child Identity Theft: Using your child’s identity for personal gain.

Consumer.gov outlines the following ways that thieves usually steal your ID:

· Steal your mail or garbage to get your account numbers or your Social Security number.

· Trick you into sending personal information in an email.

· Steal your account numbers from a business or medical office (or restaurant!).

· Steal your wallet or purse to get your personal information.

Additionally, consumers should be aware that these ID thieves are waiting for you to share personal information online or even to just use your ATM card, which is vulnerable to skimmers or other card reading devices.

As you can see below, credit card fraud, in which thieves open new accounts under your name, makes up the lion’s share of ID theft.

Top Five Types of Identity Theft, 2023

Source: iii.org

The good news is that we are fighting the good fight, and dozens of companies are working diligently to stay ahead of (or just even with) these thieves.

And while they are working to stem the ID thieves—saving consumers millions of dollars—they are also working to make money for their shareholders. I reviewed about a dozen of the companies in the identity theft protection industry and came up with two, plus one ETF, that may be of interest to you.

Equifax Inc. (EFX) is one of the top three credit rating bureaus. But that business is just a portion of what the company does. Equifax Inc. operates as a data, analytics, and technology company, operating through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International.

The company’s divisions offer verification of income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, automating payroll-related and human resource management processes, credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting services; mortgage services; financial marketing services; identity management services; and credit monitoring products.

The company operates in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States.

Equifax has beaten analysts’ earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters. And EPS projections are rising, with the company expected to earn $7.62 on revenues of $5.78 billion in 2024.

Okta Inc. (OKTA) offers products and services used to manage and secure identities, such as Single Sign-On that enables users to access applications in the cloud or on-premises from various devices; Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication provides a layer of security for cloud, mobile, web applications, and data; API Access Management enables organizations to secure APIs; Access Gateway enables organizations to extend Workforce Identity Cloud; and Okta Device Access enables end users to securely log in to devices with Okta credentials.

Other products include a cloud-based system of record to store and secure user, application, and device profiles for an organization, secure cloud infrastructure, login experience across different applications and devices, and a suite of security capabilities that protects customers from different types of malicious traffic.

Okta has beaten Wall Street’s earnings predictions for the last four quarters. It is expected to earn EPS of $2.32 on $615.81 million for its current fiscal year.

iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF (IHAK). This fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in a non-diversified index of developed and emerging market companies that are involved in cyber security and technology, including cyber security hardware, software, products, and services.

Top 10 Holdings (45.06% of Total Assets)

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