Review: Identity Finder Free Edition
I just stumbled upon Identity Finder (Free Edition, version 3.5.2), a new piece of software that will search your computer for pieces of personal information that are vulnerable to identity theft or fraud and then offer you the opportunity to shred or encrypt that data.
The free edition of Identity Finder will only allow you to search your computer for passwords and credit card numbers, but since it’s free, I thought it would be worthwhile to try.
Running My First Search
After downloading a rather large setup file (20.1mb), I installed the software, ran my first search, and was pleased to only find one vulnerable piece of personal information on my computer. Identity Finder found a saved password that Internet Explorer held for a website I use to access personal email.
The username and password that I use to access my email was displayed in plain text! That means that if I were to ever run a malicious piece of software, then it could also read my username and password and transmit it to someone else.
After finding that password, I was presented with the option to shred or encrypt that information. I chose to shred it.
One Small Annoyance
When I started my first search, Identity Finder asked me if I wanted to close my web browser, Firefox, so that it could search its form data for personal information. I checked”Don’t show this again”, and clicked “No”.
However, once I restarted the program, it seemed to forget about my preference and continued to bug me about Firefox being open.
Update: January 12, 2008
I notified the team at Identity Finder about this bug and received an email stating it would be fixed within a week.
Summary
I would recommend Identity Finder’s Free Edition to anyone curious enough to see what passwords and credit cards they may have vulnerable on their system.
The real benefits of this program, however, are only available once you purchase the other editions. If you do, you’ll be able to search your system more thoroughly and find more personal information that may be vulnerable to identity theft or fraud.
