What is ClearScore Protect?

At ClearScore, our mission is to help everyone achieve financial well-being. We began by giving everyone access to their credit score and report – for free, forever. Checking your credit score and report regularly is an easy way to spot signs of identity fraud early on. But with identity fraud reaching record highs, we want to make sure everyone’s identity is better protected.

So, we created ClearScore Protect, a free dark web monitoring service for all ClearScore users. We’ve teamed up with cyber-security experts who scan the dark web for stolen data. When they find stolen passwords, they save them into a secure external database far from the dark web. ClearScore then searches these records securely and privately for your passwords so that you can act fast, change your passwords and protect your identity.

Dark web monitoring is a service that checks hidden parts of the internet, known as the dark web, to see if your personal information has been stolen or exposed. This includes your email address, passwords, and bank account details.

We’ve partnered with a team of cyber security experts who have been investigating criminals' use of the internet for over 20 years. They monitor thousands of criminal forums, websites and chat rooms to search for stolen data and save it into a secure database.

Here’s how it works:

1. Data is securely stored in a private, external database.
2. Every three months, ClearScore scans over 40 billion records in this secure database for stolen passwords linked to your registered email address.
3. If we find any matches, we notify you with the details, including which account the password was used for.

You’ll also get detailed security recommendations and actions to ensure the best online identity theft protection.

Criminals use the dark web to buy and sell illegal goods, such as drugs, weapons, and personal information.

Dark web marketplaces sell all sorts of personal information, such as names, addresses and login details to banking apps. If a fraudster buys your personal details, they could commit fraud. They might open a credit card or loan in your name, run up large debts, or damage your credit score.

The impact can be devastating and takes a lot of time and money to fix.

Dark web monitoring is a great way of checking whether any of your data is on the dark web so that you can secure your accounts before any damage is done.

With identity fraud cases reaching record highs last year, protecting your information is more important now than ever. CIFAS estimates that 500 identities are stolen in the UK every day.

No. We work with a team of cyber security researchers who scan the dark web securely and privately without revealing any of your data. If they find information being traded on the dark web, they save it to a secure database.

ClearScore then searches this database to see if your passwords have been leaked on the dark web and alerts you if they have.

Yes. ClearScore Protect operates securely and privately:

• Your data is never shared with third parties or the dark web.
• Passwords are scanned in a secure database and only partially revealed to ensure your privacy.

No. ClearScore never stores your passwords in full.

We search a secure database for your email address to see if any passwords related to this email address are available on the dark web. If your passwords are available, we receive them in a partially starred out format so that we can inform you.

No. Because ClearScore never accesses the dark web ourselves, we cannot pass your data to the dark web.

No. Because of the way ClearScore Protect works, we never access the dark web ourselves. We simply tell you if your data is on the dark web, empowering you to take positive action to reduce the risk of you or your family becoming a victim of identity fraud.

Unfortunately not. Once information is on the dark web, it can’t be removed. However, our goal is to empower you to take action once you know your data has been breached.

We'll scan the database once every three months for your registered ClearScore email address and let you know if we find anything.

If you want daily scans, you can subscribe to ClearScore Protect Plus for improved password security. This daily scanning costs us more, so we charge a small fee of £7.99 per month for this service.

If your password has been stolen, it means it’s available on the dark web for criminals to buy, sell, or use. Criminals will often use your password to log into your accounts to steal more information, which they can use to commit fraud. Common types of fraud include buying goods and services or taking out a credit card or loan in your name.

Bear in mind that if your password is available on the dark web, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a criminal has successfully hacked into your accounts – but they’ve likely tried. It’s essential to change your password as soon as possible to keep your information safe.

ClearScore Protect will guide you through the next steps for password security online if you have one or more stolen passwords.

At ClearScore, our mission is to help everyone achieve financial well-being. When we started ClearScore in 2015, we were the UK's first company to offer free access to your credit report and score.

A great benefit of being able to check your credit report and score regularly is that you can keep an eye out for signs of identity fraud. If you spot credit application searches or new accounts that you don’t recognise on your report, you can take action early. In fact, millions of ClearScore customers use our services for this purpose.

However, as the number of data breaches and hacks increases, we want to ensure our users keep their identities protected. Scanning the dark web is a great way to securely and privately check whether any personal information, such as passwords, has been stolen.

Every ClearScore user gets a free scan of the dark web every three months. Given how often the data changes and the number of hacks and breaches, that’s about the right frequency for most people.

However, we are also offering an enhanced service called ClearScore Protect Plus, which runs the scan every day for extra peace of mind. This enhanced service costs £7.99 per month.

ClearScore Protect Plus is an enhanced version of ClearScore Protect.

With Protect Plus, we’ll scan the database every day for your information.

We’ll also search for more of your personal information: not only your passwords but your address, name, phone numbers, national insurance number, and driving licence. And we’ll protect two additional email addresses.

As well as more monitoring, you’ll get personalised fraud support if you do become a victim of identity fraud. We’ll also give you the option to register for a protective registration with CIFAS, which adds additional checks to your credit report, for free (normally £25).

This daily scanning costs us more, and so we charge a small fee of £7.99 a month for this added peace of mind. You can cancel any time.

Yes. You can opt out anytime by visiting the “My Account” section on your ClearScore profile.