Your Child’s Identity Is Worth More to Thieves Than Yours

How to Prevent Child Identity Theft

Security awareness professionals often focus on corporate assets, but some of the most impactful engagement happens when we help employees protect their families. One often-overlooked area is child identity theft.

Criminals target children because their Social Security numbers represent a “blank slate.” Unlike adults, children rarely have credit histories or active monitoring, allowing fraudulent debt to accumulate for years undetected. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, this affects approximately 1 in 50 children annually.

Guidance for Security Awareness and Training Programs

When educating your workforce on family digital safety, encourage these four high-impact actions:

• Perform a Baseline Check: Employees should contact the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to see if a credit file already exists for their minor children. A file existing where one shouldn’t is a primary red flag for fraud.

• Implement a Proactive Credit Freeze: The most effective defense is a credit freeze. Parents can freeze a minor’s credit for free, preventing unauthorized accounts from being opened until the child reaches adulthood.

• Practice SSN Minimalism: Encourage employees to challenge requests for their child’s Social Security number. Schools, sports leagues, and doctor’s offices often request this data by default, even when it is not strictly required.

• Address “Sharenting” Risks: Oversharing milestones online can provide attackers with the building blocks for identity theft (birthdays, full names, school locations). Training should emphasize the long-term risks of posting sensitive family data on social media.

By providing this guidance, security teams can build trust and demonstrate that the organization’s security culture extends to protecting what employees value most.

For a detailed walkthrough on how to execute these steps, including links to bureau-specific forms, read the full guide on Be Security Aware: Your Child’s Identity Is Worth More to Thieves Than Yours.