You probably remember the commercials. In the mid-2000s, it was impossible to turn on a TV without seeing Todd Davis, the then-CEO of LifeLock, looking straight into the camera and doing the unthinkable. He wasn't just selling a service; he was putting his life on the line. Or at least his credit score.
He stood there, ever-smiling, and showed the world his real Social Security number. It was plastered on billboards. It was painted on the side of a flatbed truck that drove through the streets of New York City. The message was loud and clear: "I’m so confident in my company that I’m giving you the keys to my identity. Go ahead, try to steal it."
Well, they did. And they succeeded. Repeatedly.
The 13 Times Todd Davis Got Burned
Marketing stunts usually end with a press release and a bump in sales. For Todd Davis, this one ended with debt collectors calling. While he claimed for a long time that the service worked, the records told a messier story. Between 2007 and 2008, his identity was successfully compromised at least 13 times.
It wasn't just one lucky hacker, either. It was a circus of fraud across the country. One guy in Texas took out a $500 loan in Davis's name. Another person in Georgia managed to open an AT&T wireless account, racking up over $2,300 in charges. There were unpaid utility bills in Texas and even a debt at a gift basket company.
Basically, anyone with a bit of hustle and his nine-digit number could find a loophole.
Honestly, the most embarrassing part wasn't just that it happened. It was that it kept happening. Davis would go on TV to defend the brand, and while he was talking, some guy in a different state was probably signing up for a credit card using his info. He later admitted there were "hundreds" of attempts, but he tried to spin it. He argued that since "only" 13 got through, the system was technically working for the other 80-plus people who failed.
That’s a bit like saying a bulletproof vest works because it only let 13 bullets through out of a hundred. Not exactly a comforting pitch.
Why LifeLock Couldn't Actually Stop the Theft
The big secret back then—the one the FTC eventually got very angry about—was that LifeLock wasn't some high-tech digital fortress. At that time, the core of their "protection" was surprisingly manual.
They were basically just placing fraud alerts on customers' credit files. You could actually do this yourself for free by calling the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). LifeLock just automated the process and kept renewing the alerts every 90 days.
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The problem? A fraud alert is a request, not a law. It asks lenders to call you before opening an account, but if a lender is lazy or doesn't check the big bureaus, the alert does nothing. This is exactly how the thieves got to Todd Davis. They went to lenders who didn't do their due diligence.
The Federal Trade Commission Steps In
By 2010, the government had seen enough of the billboards. The FTC, alongside 35 state attorneys general, hit LifeLock with a $12 million settlement. The charge was simple: deceptive advertising.
The regulators were blunt. They said the protection LifeLock promised was so full of holes "you could drive a truck through it." They also called out the company for its own internal data security. While they were promising to protect you from hackers, the FTC alleged their own servers weren't even properly encrypted.
They had to stop claiming they could "prevent" identity theft. Because, as Todd Davis personally proved, you really can't. You can only monitor it and clean up the mess afterward.
Life After the Billboards
Despite the public roasting, LifeLock didn't die. It grew. People were—and still are—terrified of identity theft, and Davis’s "crazy" stunt did one thing perfectly: it made LifeLock a household name.
Davis stayed at the helm for a long time. He eventually transitioned to Executive Chairman in 2016 before the company was acquired by Symantec (now Gen Digital) for $2.3 billion. He’s since moved on to other ventures, including serving as Executive Chairman at Kadenwood and working with various tech startups.
Looking back, he doesn't seem to regret the SSN stunt. In later interviews, he’s described it as a "desperate business situation" that required a "lightning in a bottle" moment to break through the noise. He knew he didn't have the budget for a traditional ad blitz, so he made himself the target.
What This Means for Your Data Today
The saga of LifeLock CEO Todd Davis is a permanent reminder that no one is "un-hackable." Even if you own the company, if your data is out there, it’s vulnerable.
If you're looking to protect yourself in 2026, don't rely on a single "shield." The industry has shifted from "prevention" to "remediation." Here is how the pros actually handle it now:
- Credit Freezes Over Fraud Alerts: Don't just "alert" lenders. Freeze your credit files. This actually locks your credit report so no one can open an account unless you "thaw" it with a PIN. It’s free and more effective than anything Davis was selling in 2007.
- Two-Factor Everything: Your SSN is probably already on the dark web thanks to a dozen different data breaches. Focus on securing your entry points—email, bank accounts, and cellular providers—with hardware keys or authenticator apps.
- Assume You're Compromised: Modern identity protection is mostly about insurance and recovery. If someone steals your name, you want a service that provides lawyers and specialists to spend the hundreds of hours required to fix your record.
Todd Davis's identity theft wasn't a failure of technology as much as it was a lesson in human psychology. We want to believe in a "magic button" that makes us safe. But in reality, the guy who owned the button still got his credit ruined 13 times.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your status: Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and pull your reports from all three bureaus to see if there are any accounts you don't recognize.
- Lock it down: Visit the websites of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to place a security freeze on your files. This is significantly more robust than a standard fraud alert.
- Audit your "Secret" Info: If you've used the same SSN/password combos for years, change your security questions. Most "secret" answers (like mother's maiden name) are easily findable in public records.