Equifax, Privista Collaborate on Privacy Tools
Information management firm Equifax and privacy start-up Privista recently announced a strategic alliance to offer consumers products designed to protect their privacy on the Internet.As a result of the alliance, Privista will launch the first product, My Identity Guard, by the end of October, said Eric Gertler, president/CEO of Privista.
My Identity Guard, he said, will be an early warning system that alerts consumers to potential instances of identity theft or credit fraud. It will indicate changes to the consumer's credit report via a weekly e-mail notification. Equifax will supply the consumer-credit data to be used for this product.
"We are developing a very secure registration and authentication process for My Identity Guard," Gertler said.
Privista has two other privacy tools in development and plans to launch them sometime after My Identity Guard debuts. Opt Out Manager will be a tool to help consumers eliminate unwanted marketing solicitations, while My Credit Monitor will be a credit monitoring and improvement tool, Gertler said.
"As the Internet has developed, there has been a rise in issues and threats to personal privacy," he said. "We wanted to put consumers back in control of their own data."
