U.S. insurance carrier Allstate in August 2018 acquired identity theft services company InfoArmor for $525 million. Allstate’s stated intent is to grow its employee benefits business.

According to Tom Wilson, Chairman, President and CEO of Allstate, in 2017 “there were over 16 million victims of identity fraud [in the U.S.], which resulted in over $16 billion of losses.”

InfoArmor is a private company with headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. Its two main products are:

• PrivacyArmor, an identity monitoring service that “alerts users at the first sign of fraud and restores an individual’s identity”. It is sold as an employee benefit and claims a 20% market share among Fortune 500 companies.
• VigilanteATI, a corporate threat intelligence service that “monitors for emerging threats and protects companies from hacks and cyberattacks”.

Generali is another large insurer that owns and offers an identity monitoring product, IRIS, through its Generali Global Assistance unit. These risk avoidance or risk management tools are different from identity theft insurance, which does not attempt to protect from identity theft but mitigates its consequences after an adverse event.

A 3-page presentation of the deal is available via www.allstateinvestors.com (look for Financials / 2018 3rd Quarter Investor Information / InfoArmor Acquisition Investor Presentation).