Aura Identity Theft Protection Review

Getting Started

We’ll look at how to purchase an Aura plan below, but first, let’s take a peek at the service’s pros and cons so you have some context.

Aura Pros and Cons

Right away, you’ll notice that Aura offers a huge list of features in several comprehensive protection packages. Plans include identity theft, protection from fraud, and complimentary antivirus software. Plus, Aura offers its own VPN so you can stay safe where you’re most at risk of identity theft – online.

We can’t ignore the list of cons, though. Aura is proud of its product, and it charges a premium for it. It also doesn’t offer a lot of choice when it comes to features. A number of other identity theft protection services offer cheaper versions of their plans for lower prices. Aura doesn’t skimp anywhere, which means there aren’t more affordable options. But, hey, you know you’re protected from any eventuality with Aura.

First Impressions

Right off the bat, we were impressed with the simple layout of Aura’s website and purchasing portal. Some of the identity theft protection services we’ve reviewed in the past have been a little unorganized in this regard, so it’s refreshing to see all of the information presented in such a clear-cut way.

When it comes to identity theft, though, we need more than a pretty face. We need solid coverage options that both protect us and suit our budgets. So a more important question than how does the website look is what kind of plans does Aura offer?

The quick answer is there are three separate plans. The first, the individual plan, covers — you guessed it — individuals. Then there’s the couples plan that covers — wait for it — couples. And then there’s the family plan that covers — I think you see where we’re going — families. Uninspired naming conventions aside, these three plans help Aura customers select exactly what they need.

Things are a bit more complicated than this simple list suggests, though. You need to know that child identity protection differs from the identity protection that adults get. Aura monitors kids’ Social Security numbers, but that’s it. To be fair, that’s the most targeted piece of information when it comes to minors.  And we should also not that you can add any number of children to the Family plan, provided that they live with you. There’s a five-member limit attached to the family plan, but that only applies to adults.

Aura’s three plans.

Taking everything into account, Aura’s pricing is more than reasonable. An individual can get all-around coverage for $9 per month, and the value of your plan only increases as you add more people to your subscription.

Aura Plans and Pricing

We provide more details later in our guide to Aura’s pricing packages, but a few quick notes here right off the bat.

First, the Family plan is versatile and inclusive. It covers five individuals, and one of the best things about it is that it protects children’s SSN but doesn’t count them against the user limit. That’s great for big families, but it’s still affordable for families that are just starting. For reference, most identity protection services with family plans only cover two adults and a certain number of children, so Aura really outdid itself here.

As we mentioned before, Aura’s recent purchase of Circle allowed it to begin offering parental controls with its Family Plans. These let you monitor what your children are up to online, filter out content, and set screen time limits.

The second thing worth noting is that Aura provides its subscribers with access to both antivirus software as well as a virtual private network. This is important because unsecured devices are a primary attack vector for identity thieves. They also use malware and online scams that can be detected through Aura’s software.

With Aura’s device digital protection, you can protect up to 10 devices per user. That means if you’re on the Couple plan, you and your partner share a 20-device limit. If you’re on the Family plan, the number of devices you can protect depends on the number of registered users, not counting children. For example, 30 devices if there are three members, 40 devices for four members, and so on.

Aura: Purchasing and Setup

The purchasing process for Aura was a breeze. We selected the Individual plan, noting that Aura offers 24/7 customer support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Then we went about setting up our account. 

First, you’re asked to provide your email address and create a password. Nothing unusual there. Next, Aura prompts you to enter personal information such as your name, your address, your Social Security number, and your birthdate. Again, none of this is unusual. Identity theft protection services need to know about you to monitor the internet for your information.

Signing up for Aura

It’s only at this point that you’re asked to enter your credit card information. You’ve got a couple of choices in terms of payment plans. If you’re sure Aura is the right protection service for you, you can purchase an annual plan. That saves you some money in the long run, $36 a year with the Individual Plan and $156 a year with the Family Plan. Of course, it means paying the full price upfront, and that’s not for everyone. In addition, paying one month at a time allows you to test out the service and get comfortable with it before making a long-term commitment.

Once you’ve purchased your plan, you’ll move on to the easy setup process.

Aura’s Dashboard

The dashboard is refreshingly simple, though its feature controls can be a little intimidating at first. Luckily, you have us to help you sort through the options.

The first tile was our credit profile. This automatically configured itself based on the personal information we entered during the setup process, but it took a while for it to come online. We get it: Aura has to connect with the credit bureaus and compile a tremendous amount of information. Aura says the configuration can take up to a few hours. We’re not exactly oil barons, though. For us, it took more like half an hour. We clicked on ‘activate’ to start the setup process.

Aura started by asking us for information that only we would know, information specifically drawn from our credit file–things like past addresses and approximate payments we made to specific loans in our past. We liked that they were being cautious about verifying our identity. Once that process was complete, Aura officially activated our credit monitoring.

We were immediately impressed with Aura’s credit monitoring features. The company kept an eye on all three of our credit files – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Why do you need three? Because if an identity thief tries to take out a line of credit in your name, it might ping one service but not all of them.

Aside from keeping an eye on your credit, Aura also gives you the ability to lock it down. You should always keep this function engaged unless you’re actively applying for a loan or shopping around for a mortgage.

What is a credit lock? It essentially makes it impossible for a lender to access a credit file — in Aura’s case, your Experian file — when it’s engaged. This means a thief looking to open a line of credit in your name will immediately be stopped in their tracks. This is a really powerful tool against fraud, and one we recommend to everyone concerned about keeping their identity intact.

Aura also offers a credit score tracker, which shows your progress over time, and gives you information as to why your score is what it is. This is a great tool for anyone looking to re-establish their credit after a financial hardship or boost their credit to secure a loan at a lower interest rate.

Aura’s credit score tracker

The tracker is down at the bottom there. It doesn’t have any information in it yet, but after you use the service for a few months, you’ll see the dot move, plotting out your (hopefully) increasing score.

Moving on to the next tile, you’ll be able to link your accounts to Aura, which will then monitor them for suspicious activity, like large withdrawals or money being shuffled around. Aura uses Plaid — a third-party middleman which uses heavy-duty encryption to connect vendors to bank accounts — to connect to your accounts. We always like it when they show up; they’re extremely trustworthy.

Aura uses Plaid to connect to your financial accounts

Once we selected our bank and entered our username and password, we were ready to go. Once connected, Aura monitored all our connected accounts for transactions beyond a certain threshold that we set.

Setting Aura’s alert thresholds

Moving right along, the next section is all about identity monitoring. This covers everything from dark web marketplaces, public records, new accounts being opened using your information, and data broker sites. For that last one, Aura even offers to get your information removed from risky data broker sites, reducing your information’s exposure.

To monitor for your identity, Aura uses the information you provided during the sign-up phase, but you can always add more information later on. In fact, we recommend that you do. Aura can only monitor what it knows, so you have to make sure to give Aura all the pertinent details about yourself.

Additional information Aura can monitor

As an aside, we’ve reviewed a lot of these services, and this is one of the most extensive lists we’ve found so far. Well, we did find a comparable list during our IdentityGuard review, but it turns out that the same company that owns IdentityGuard owns Aura. Makes sense. Compare how similar they are with our Aura vs. Identity Guard guide.

The more important observation is that Aura’s identity monitoring absolutely works. We immediately had 23 notifications that our credentials were found on the dark web.

Alerts from Aura

If you have the same experience, though, don’t panic. We’ve reviewed dozens of identity theft protection services, and this is extremely common. Ninety-nine percent of the time the credentials won’t match up, or the alert was from such a long time ago that it’s nothing to worry about. Of course, while we appreciate Aura’s thoroughness, it would be nice if the company could filter out some of these results. It can be startling to have so many entries pop up.

Moving on, though, we want to highlight three of the most interesting and unique features Aura offers: malware protection, Wi-Fi security, and its most recent addition, a password manager.

Aura’s antivirus and VPN functions

Malware protection is essential antivirus software. What do viruses have to do with identity theft protection you might be asking yourself? The answer is “quite a lot.”

Malware comes in all shapes and sizes and can do anything from brick your computer to logging your keystrokes. Think about that for a second — if there’s a keylogger running in the background that you’re unaware of, it’ll be able to pick up everything you’re typing, including your passwords. Putting two and two together?

Good cybersecurity practices go hand in hand with identity theft protection. In our in-depth look at NortonLifeLock, we found they really get this, too. You always want to make sure you’re using strong passwords, avoiding sketchy sites, and being discerning about the online vendors you do business with.

One thing to note: Aura’s malware protection is not currently available for iOS. We hate to do it, but we’re gonna have to ding them a little for that. Although iOS is more secure than other platforms, it still needs some sort of malware protection, as cybercriminals can use social engineering (e.g. phishing, malicious sites, email attachments) to target iOS users.

Now let’s talk about this virtual private network Aura offers. What’s a VPN you ask? VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. A VPN allows you to log on to a remote server via an encrypted tunnel. The encryption ensure your data is safe and the remote server assigns you an anonymous IP address, so you can’t be tracked. Aura’s VPN is available on all major platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

We tested it on our iPhone, and it worked pretty well. There wasn’t a whole lot of latency — something you can expect when running a VPN — and it didn’t appear to be leaking DNS requests — a techno-jargon way of saying “it works.”

VPN test

Why would you want a VPN bundled with your identity theft protection? For the same reason it’s useful to package antivirus software with your identity theft protection. There is no magic bullet for keeping yourself safe from identity theft. There are tons of threats out there, and they all require different forms of protection.

For example, you never know who is sharing that unsecured Wi-Fi network with you at the hotel, and if you decided to do some banking from your room, a bad actor might be sniffing for login credentials. That could cause some pretty serious problems, right? If you’re running a VPN, though, you’re a ghost to them.

Finally, within the last several months, Aura has also added a password manager to its comprehensive list of extras. As we note in our guide to creating passwords, it’s a good idea to use different passwords for all your many accounts. That way, if a hacker should manage to figure out one password, they won’t be able to access all of your accounts. No one has the brain capacity to remember all those passwords, though, and writing them down on a notepad leaves them vulnerable should someone break into your home. A password manager lets you keep track of all your passwords in one secure location. You only have to remember the one password that unlocks the manager.

So that just about covers everything there is to say about Aura. With all this in mind, let’s put it all together.

Aura: Our Final Verdict

Overall, we loved Aura. Their credit protections are comprehensive, their identity monitoring is robust, and their bonus features — the malware protection and the VPN — put them head and shoulders above many other identity theft protection services we’ve reviewed so far.

We also loved their design. A lot of these services feel a little dated when you use them (like their dashboards were designed in 1996 and haven’t been updated since). Not so with Aura, which felt sleek, modern, and responsive. So overall, Aura is a great product that offers all-around protection.

That said, be sure you breeze through our guide to this year’s best ID theft prevention products before making your final choice.

Aura FAQs

*The score you receive with Aura is provided for educational purposes to help you understand your credit. It is calculated using the information contained in your TransUnion or Experian credit file. Lenders use many different credit scoring systems, and the score you receive with Aura is not the same score used by lenders to evaluate your credit.