I had a love-hate relationship with identity protection services for more than 15 years, despite serving as an advisor to some of these companies and using more than a dozen of these services.

In almost every presentation I’ve given about identity theft and fraud, I’m asked the same two-part question: Are these services good and can I trust the companies behind them?

The answer is complicated. The identity protection industry has a checkered past and has survived some early scandals. I also think that identity theft protection companies can exaggerate what they do for subscribers.

But they offer help credit monitoring and online security tools for anyone who doesn’t want to do the grunt work of keeping track of their or their children’s identities. Identity theft protection can also be useful if your identity it is compromised and you need help to restore it.

Early scandals in the identity theft industry

Many of the leading identity theft protection providers have been sued, penalized and fined for making misleading or exaggerated marketing and performance claims. Most exaggerated of all is that they prevent identity theft when they really don’t.

For example, the Federal Trade Commission has brought charges against LifeLock in 2010, claiming the company falsely claimed it could preventing all forms of identity theft. LifeLock later agreed to pay a 100 million dollars settlement in 2015 on charges of contempt of the original court order. The FTC also accused LifeLock of failing to adequately protect customer data and failing to provide immediate security alerts to subscribers if it believed they were victims of identity theft. LifeLock was later acquired by Symantec in 2016and is currently owned by Gen Digital.

Identity theft protection providers have also been accused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of colluding with bank partners to fraudulently enroll customers in “add-on credit card” services that they did not never received, including credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

In 2015, the CFPB fined Affinion Group and Intersections, Inc.former owners of Privacy Guard and Identity card$10 million for charging people for services they didn’t know about. The CFPB also fined Bank of America 727 million USD in 2014 and Citibank $700 million in 2015 in similar cases.

Since these massive penalties have been issued and the industry has come under increased scrutiny, we’ve noticed that services are doing a better job of more honestly describing their features and giving their customers what they’re signing up for.

The case for enrolling in identity theft protection

The world of cybercrime, scams and fraud has changed significantly thanks to artificial intelligence. And many of these ID protection products have changed with it. They still offer identity protection, but with a greater focus on your safety. online.

Some of the top identity theft protection services offer dozens of features that go beyond tracking identity fraud or restoring identities. They provide protection of bank accountsbank fraud reimbursement, password managers, virtual private networks and antivirus protection to help you stay ahead of many online threats.

What I like most about identity theft protection services is that once you sign up, you will be constantly reminded and informed about how to protect yourself. Many of these services give you weekly reminders to check your bank and credit card statements and review your credit reports. As a cybersecurity expert, I know that arming yourself with information is the best way to protect yourself online.

Many identity theft protection services also offers monitoring three credit bureauswhich alerts you if credit accounts are opened in your name, such as a mortgage or a new credit card. while credit freeze are freely available to the public, most people don’t use them. So identity theft protection companies can help people pay more attention to their credit.

Is Identity Theft Protection right for me?

Identity protection services might be worth the money if these three things apply to you:

• You can afford it. Identity theft protection doesn’t come cheap, especially for family plans, which can cost anywhere from $30 to $80 per month. You can usually find individual plans for anywhere from $7 to $20 per month.
• You understand its limits. Identity Theft Protection cannot prevent identity theft. However, it can alert you if something is wrong.
• You can use most of the included features. Identity theft protection companies offer excellent credit monitoring and online security tools that you should take advantage of, in addition to frequent reminders of cybersecurity best practices.

Simply signing up for identity theft protection and sitting back is not a useful defense against any type of cybercrime, scam or fraud – especially with the advent of AI.

Although most identity protection services offer deep or dark web scansit is almost impossible to do in a meaningful way. Most stolen data is hidden behind paywalls or in places that security providers don’t have access to.

Billions of records are already available on the dark web, with millions more being added monthly thanks to data breaches. No provider has the ability to constantly scan all those sources and all that data. So it’s best to assume that your information is already compromised and it’s up to you to take the necessary precautions.

If you sign up for a Identity Theft Protection Serviceand use it correctly, you stand a very good chance of significantly improving your protection against the rising tide of AI-driven cybercrime.

But do your research. Compare company prices and features. And look at their track record and reputation. Don’t be swayed or swayed by clever marketing campaigns or celebrity endorsements. They are not a good substitute for a good product at the right price.

Read more: CNET’s picks for the best identity theft services

Consider signing up for identity theft protection if you’ve been a victim of fraud or identity theft. Aura is CNET’s pick for the best identity theft protection service.

Protect your personal data and get peace of mind with CNET’s top pick for identity theft software.