Digital Footprint "Take Action" does nothing?

[robains]

I'm a little confused by what Digital Footprint is supposed to accomplish?

After a scan is shows me High Risk items linked to one of my email accounts.  Has a "Take Action" button, but that button just takes me to another page that says my SSN was exposed with yet another button that says "Take Action" ... click on that button and it does nothing?  Being able to identify my data on the "Dark Web" is ok I guess, but there is no actionable" process Malwarebytes can perform to remove the distribution of my data on the dark web (other than hacking the hackers)?

Like the AT&T Data Breach, nothing I can do, the data it out on the dark web for sale, all I can do is change passwords as needed.  Getting my Social Security number changed is a monumental amount of work not with just SSN admin, but updating all the other institutions that use it like Banks, Medical, Real Estate, Taxes, etc. etc.  But again, Malwarebytes doesn't really do anything.

I'm still unclear on what will happen since I've added a few Credit Cards to be monitored?    

Scroll down the page and there are links to Identity Theft Protection "See Protection Plans" ... which takes me to another page where I've already purchased the "Ultimate" plan?

To be frank, the "Ultimate" plan doesn't seem to be doing a heck of a lot considering the yearly cost.  The "Personal Data Remover" just gives me written instructions of a website to go to and make my own request to "opt out" which is not guaranteed and I can do that with or without a Malwarebytes Ultimate Subscription.

Are these production options still very much a "work in progress"?

Don't get me wrong, I think Malwarebytes does a great job with protecting my PC and the VPN is reasonably solid (occasionally it will just disconnect so I have to select another server).

Rob.

 

[jtodd234]

Hello,

Thanks for the feedback. 

The intention of our digital footprint is to highlight your exposed data and ensure that we articulate the benefits of monitoring for any changes to that data. This way, when changes to this data occur, you are promptly alerted to take action, such as updating passwords or freezing your credit.  

You're right that it becomes nearly impossible to completely remove once data is exposed, such as the AT&T breach you mentioned. However, it is essential to understand that this puts you at high risk of identity theft, and things like monitoring and freezing your credit can significantly reduce the risk.

Instead of manually checking each month, Malwarebytes provides comprehensive insurance and notifications to inform you of any changes to your exposed data through our Identity protection services.
 
We are validating your experience around the taking action button. As highlighted in the first paragraph, it should show you possible levels of protection plans we offer that could continually monitor the data exposed. 

The Ultimate plan should proactively monitor your data, provided our Identity portal has been set up with all the identity protection settings. I'd be happy to verify this for you!  Please feel free to private message me at your convenience your email address associated with your Ultimate plan.

The personal data remover operates through a two-phased approach. The first phase involves identifying the data requiring attention, while the second phase focuses on its removal. It is important to note that not all data brokers permit third parties to facilitate the opt-out process for your data. Consequently, we provide instructions tailored to the level of interaction we are permitted to have with these data brokers.

I appreciate your positive comments about the antivirus protection and VPN, and it's great to hear those features meet your needs! 

Hopefully, the above addresses your concerns outlined however if not happy to provide further clarification as needed. 

Edited November 21 by jtodd234

[robains]

Thank you for the response.  I can see the benefit in knowing websites that were hacked and my information that was extracted from that hack.

For some constructive feedback, it would be more helpful to know what specifically was floating around in the dark web, in most cases the synopses identify email and maybe userID but the rest is generic text on other information using verbiage “possible your address, passwords, SSN, phone, …” … doesn’t listed exactly what data is living on the dark web.  Is it just my email and userID or is it more.  Some of the source have little to no meaning to me such XYZ.dmp file … ??  Where on the dark web is the file located?  Who can access and remove the file?  Is the file located on multiple servers?

In additional, the dark web search often repeats items exactly so I’m constantly archiving what has already been reported the prior day.  These don’t appear to be “unique” finds, just repeat finds … at least there is no information provided to me that would show it’s a unique find … maybe you folks found it at a different location but you don’t communicate that to me.

Also confused over your credit scores, you indicate they are obtained by a specific service version but then say banks/loan institutions do NOT use this version to determine a person’s credit score?  I understand that Banks/Loan institutions will use whatever credit service they want that will provide for the best possible outcome in the bank’s favor (i.e. lowest score so as to charge more interest) but what I need to know is what specific banks/institutions use, and not some service that isn’t used.

But as far as the option that takes me to a page with a node around my email and the flow connectors to other nodes, doesn’t really do anything for me since if I click on a node it does nothing and doesn’t provide where, when, who, anything helpful?

Please take this a constructive, not trying to diminish MalwareBytes work effort, just think it needs a bit more work to be useful.

Rob.

[jtodd234]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the help in improving our service. I've passed the feedback on to the appropriate internal teams. Thank you again for your assistance, and we do appreciate the feedback so we can further optimize the services for how users wish to interact with them.