Affinion Security Center's BreachShield Identity Theft Protection Extended to More than Half a Million Victims

NORWALK, Conn., June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Affinion Security Center announced today that BreachShield, a data breach security and identity theft protection service for businesses and their customers, has been provided to nearly 550,000 BreachShield client customers since its launch in February 2008. BreachShield is a comprehensive solution that helps businesses respond to data breaches by assisting companies in notifying and implementing identity theft protection plans for their customers or employees whose personal or financial data was compromised.

In 43 states, companies are required by law to notify individuals whose information was compromised due to a breach. This potentially devastating and time sensitive situation is nearly impossible for businesses to handle on their own. BreachShield offers companies a legally compliant and easily implemented plan to assist in the notification and protection of customers. The service also provides Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) trained, bi-lingual service agents for managing customer requests.

Affinion Security Center's BreachShield can be put in place before a data breach occurs, offering companies a proactive breach solution that also meets the requirements of new regulations such as the Fact Act Red Flag Rules. This regulation requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement identity theft prevention programs for new and existing accounts before breaches occur. The law states that programs must include reasonable policies and procedures for detecting, preventing and mitigating identity theft.

"As data breaches become inevitable in our mobile and digital society, more companies are turning to Affinion Security Center for the BreachShield solution," said Tom Rusin, President and CEO of Affinion Group North America. "Leading businesses know that handling a breach in a timely and attentive fashion, and offering their customers an instant solution to the potential threat of identity theft, can actually build brand loyalty and retention by signaling that your organization is proactively combating this spiraling crime."

Over the last several years a wide variety of institutions including government agencies, educational institutions, financial services companies, retailers and mail order companies have suffered security breaches, leaving millions of their customers at risk of identity theft. Preparing for a breach before it occurs, by putting a plan like BreachShield in place, can help companies eliminate "crisis mode" chaos and minimize costs spent on recovering from a data breach.

Affinion will co-host a data breach solutions webinar with Javelin Strategy & Research on Tuesday, June 24, at 4 p.m. Eastern. Register online at www.BreachShield.com .

About Affinion Security Center

Affinion Security Center, a division of Norwalk, Conn.-based Affinion Group, is a premier security, credit monitoring and identity theft protection innovator with nearly 35 years of global experience. It launched HotLine, a leading ID theft, credit card, fraud protection and security service in 1969. PrivacyGuard, a comprehensive membership credit monitoring product which was created in 1992, remains one of the most widely used in the U.S. In 2006, ID Secure, a sophisticated tool that uses leading-edge public records, Social Security number and credit monitoring technology to fight ID theft, was born. Another ID theft protection service in Affinion's growing security business is PC SafetyPlus, an identity theft software service that protects members with a personal firewall to thwart hackers and other online ID threats. PC SafetyPlus software features automatic updates and service upgrades for protection against prevailing computer viruses, spyware and worms. In 2008 BreachShield, the preeminent solution to corporate data breach response, was introduced to the product line. Affinion Security Center is part of the steering committee of the Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel (IDSP) and is a member of the Staples Security Council. For more information please visit www.affinion.com .