With the presidential election nearing its end, our candidates have in much detail debated, discussed and rallied for American issues; much of which having to do with typical topics such as economy, healthcare and of course taxes. In four years, when the presidential election comes again, you may hear of a new hot topic on the minds of the American people and politicians…identity theft. The driving force - organizations sensitive information loss and data breaches.

In 2008 alone there have been nearly 600 personal information data breaches that have affected more than 125 million US consumers! The organizations that have lost our information have ranged from educational institutions to the government and military, medical and healthcare facilities to banking and financial institutions and your everyday businesses. Identity theft costs U.S. consumers $50 billion a year and is a living nightmare as it relates to the average time spent restoring a stolen identity, 175-300 personal hours and 1-2 years!!

What is encouraging is that organizations and businesses are becoming more proactive in instituting a solution before they’ve experienced a breach. Many are taking advantage of services such as LifeLock’s Institutional Breach Services (IBS). LifeLock’s IBS will educate and help organizations to better understand identity theft and to get all parties of the organization protected by LifeLock. Most importantly, to show them what to do in a crisis situation:

• Create an Incident Response Team in your organization.
• Develop a Notification Strategy.
• Create Notification Letter(s) to Affected Individuals.
• Designate a Contact Person to Release Information.

Because there are many different ways that sensitive data can be breached, it can be difficult for some organizations to plan for every possible scenario. It may be imperative that laws mandate that organizations have a solution in place; a “break glass in case of emergency” type resolution to address any data loss crisis. So be on the lookout in 2012, we just may hear slogans on the campaign as they relate to identity theft protection. Where do you stand?

The weekend of July 11-13 was very exciting as LifeLock sponsored NASCARS Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, bringing the race world the LifeLock.com 400.

As an effort to introduce African American and Hispanic business owners and executives from the Chicago area, as well as high profile minority personalities in government, politics, sports and entertainment industries to their first NASCAR experience as well as business opportunities with LifeLock and NASCAR; LifeLock activated the Zero to 60 Tour.

The VIP experience consisted of transportation to and from the race, Hospitality area with food provided, garage and pit tour, and a NASCAR 101 session with speakers from the speedway, NASCAR, ISC and LifeLock on topics ranging from general knowledge of the sport to business opportunities within the sport and opportunities with LifeLock.

The tour a phenomenal success! NASCAR gained new fans and LifeLock gained new partnerships that will be significant in the education of identity theft in various segments of the American consumer. Attendees of the tour included, Mathew St. Patrick, star of the hit HBO series “Six Feet Under”; Ken Smikle, President of Target Market News; Chase Austin a young African-American race car driver, who at 15-years old was signed to Hendrick Motorsports. Chase currently signed to Rusty Wallace Racing and is definitely one to watch on the up-and-coming driver list, among others.