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Is Kroll a Valid Identity Theft Monitoring Option?
If you’ve received a data breach notice offering free monitoring from Kroll, you may be wondering what it is and if it’s legitimate.
Kroll is a corporate risk management and cybersecurity company that is hired by companies who have suffered large-scale data breaches to help protect affected individuals.
For example, in 2023 when Michigan-based Flagstar Bank leaked the data of more than 800,000 customers, the bank offered two years of complimentary Kroll monitoring to all impacted customers as part of its response plan.
But just because Kroll is a free option, doesn’t mean it’s always right for you.
By partnering with companies after they suffer data breaches, Kroll may offer fewer protective features than many other identity theft protection providers.
In this guide, we’ll explain what’s included in most Kroll monitoring plans, the potential risks of accepting free Kroll monitoring, and why you may want to consider a different identity theft protection option.
What’s Included With Kroll Monitoring?
Kroll doesn’t offer a single identity monitoring plan. Instead, every company that hires Kroll can pick and choose between multiple levels of service depending on their budget and needs.
That means, as an end user, the features you receive from Kroll will depend on what the impacted company has decided to offer. For example, some customers may receive one-bureau credit monitoring while others get three-bureau.
If you’re already signed up for a Kroll monitoring plan, you should have received a letter with specifics around what features you’ve been offered. If you can’t find the letter, you may need to contact the company and supply your membership number to determine exactly what level of protection you have.
Most Kroll monitoring plans include some form of:
- Identity monitoring
- Credit monitoring
- Fraud consultations and identity restoration
Here’s a deeper look at each category of protection and what’s included:
Identity monitoring
Kroll states that it monitors the internet for personally identifiable information (PII) associated with its users, including:
- Social Security Numbers (SSNs)
- Bank account numbers and routing information
- Credit card and debit card numbers
- Medical ID numbers
- Contact information including email addresses and phone numbers
- Birthdates
This is not a comprehensive list of data points for identity theft monitoring, but it’s better than no monitoring at all.
However, Kroll doesn’t provide many details about where it monitors for this sensitive information other than “public records” and “sites known for illegal sales of PII.” This makes it unclear as to whether or not Kroll provides in-depth Dark Web monitoring.
Credit monitoring
Credit monitoring is an important part of any identity theft protection service, as it can warn you if criminals use your stolen identity to open accounts, take out loans in your name, or update (and damage) your credit file.
While Kroll claims to offer a “continuous credit monitoring service,” it’s unclear what this means in practice.
There are three major credit reporting bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — and not all lenders report to all three. This means that without three-bureau credit monitoring, you could miss early warning signs of fraud.
Unfortunately, examples of Kroll letters found online only show the company offering one-bureau credit monitoring.
Pro tip: You can proactively protect your credit with a credit freeze. This will prevent anyone from accessing your credit file until you “thaw” it. To freeze your credit, you’ll need to contact each of the three major credit bureaus individually.
Fraud consultation and identity restoration
One of the main benefits of signing up for Kroll's services is access to fraud consultants and licensed identity theft investigators to help you recover from identity theft.
Here are a few examples of the support you can receive from Kroll’s fraud consultation team:
- Explaining your rights and protections under the law. This is a very basic service that almost every identity theft protection service offers. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides this service for free through its ReportFraud.ftc.gov website.
- Assistance with fraud alerts. While fraud is often complex and elaborate, good fraud alerts are self-explanatory. Assisting users with fraud alerts may simply mean performing standard customer support tasks like every other identity theft protection company does.
- Interpreting how personal data is accessed and used. This could be useful, depending on the amount of additional context Kroll can provide into user activities. It’s not clear, though, how much data Kroll’s fraud consultation team has access to, and how much additional information they can provide at this level.
- Investigating suspicious activity that could be tied to an identity theft event. This may be the most valuable service included in the fraud consultation package. Comprehensive investigations help identify the depth and severity of fraud attempts, guide users through reading their credit reports, and allow users to plan the recovery process accordingly.
The bottom line: While Kroll offers a decent level of identity monitoring services, it may not offer the same level of one-on-one support as dedicated service providers like Aura or LifeLock. If you’re concerned about your identity or accounts, it might be worth considering a different identity theft protection service.
What Are the Risks of Signing Up for Kroll Monitoring?
Kroll itself is a well-established company that has been around for nearly a century and supports businesses with corporate security, risk consulting, and financial advisory. However, it isn’t free from security issues and risks that could leave you vulnerable.
Before signing up for Kroll ID monitoring, make sure you understand the risks, including:
- Past security issues. Kroll has been the target of cyberattacks, including a 2023 data security incident that occurred after an employee fell victim to a SIM-swapping attack, giving hackers access to the employee’s phone number and company documents.
- Poor usability reviews. Reviews of Kroll on third-party review site Trustpilot are mostly negative, with multiple reviewers claiming that they were unable to sign up for the company's services. It's important to note that many reviews pertain to Kroll's other business role as a settlement administrator for class action lawsuits.
- Varying degrees of protection. Kroll’s business model allows the companies that engage their services to “mix and match” different features. Unfortunately, this means that some customers may be left with limited protection — especially when it comes to credit monitoring.
- Lack of proactive protection. Unlike modern identity theft protection services that include tools to proactively protect you and your family against hackers and scammers, Kroll is purely focused on ID monitoring and support. This means they can only help after your sensitive data has already been leaked.
💡 Learn more: Is Identity Theft Protection Really Worth It? →
Kroll Monitoring Isn’t Your Only Option for Identity Protection
Kroll is an attractive option for people who have had their data leaked by a third-party organization, as it’s free and provided by the impacted company.
However, the lack of publicly available details about Kroll’s services, as well as the inconsistent levels of protection and support, mean it might be providing a false sense of security — while leaving you vulnerable to fraud.
The 2025 Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) Consumer Impact Report found that 71% of identity theft victims are targeted multiple times.
If your data has already been compromised in a breach, you may want to pay for a proactive identity protection solution like Aura.
Aura is an award-winning identity theft and online safety platform that not only monitors your identity, credit, and finances, but proactively protects you from modern threats and scams.
Every Aura plan includes monitoring of over 130 unique pieces of sensitive data across the Dark Web, public records, data breaches, and more. Plus, you’ll get three-bureau credit monitoring with the industry’s fastest fraud alerts3, a full suite of digital security tools, up to $5 million in insurance coverage, and 24/7 access to U.S.-based support specialists.
Aura even helps keep your sensitive data private, with tools to help remove your information from Google search results as well as over 140 data brokers and people search sites.
The main difference between Kroll and Aura is whom they work for: Kroll supports companies that have been impacted by data breaches, while Aura protects individuals and families who are worried about identity theft and online threats.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the differences between Aura and Kroll monitoring:
If you received a breach notification with a prompt to sign up for Kroll, it could be a good option — but only if you already use another service that protects your data and devices and provides three-bureau credit monitoring.
For all-in-one protection, sign up for Aura. Aura’s award-winning solution provides more comprehensive monitoring, powerful online security tools, support that’s available when you need it, and a generous insurance policy to help cover eligible losses and costs associated with identity theft.
