Some things get better with age!

It's true, some things do get better with age.  Fine wines, whiskey, cheeses and old masterpieces.  The Roman Colisseum really wouldn't be anything special if it had been built yesterday, and we are still fascinated by the Pyramids and all things ancient Egyptian.  These things have gotten better as they got older.  There is something else that is better with age too, your identity!

Identity theft is a lucrative criminal enterprise.  The leader of an identity theft ring will treat his "business" with the same care that the CEO of a Fortune 500 company will.  When they handle identity theft in this manner, they incur minimal risk and maximum gain.

It's pretty much standard procedure to require a company to pay for credit monitoring after a breach.  Normally this monitoring goes on for one to two years.  So it would be a bad business decision to immediately put that identity into circulation.  Instead they store it for future use and release older "aged" identities.  There are two reasons for them to do this.

The heat is off
To borrow a phrase from the food industry, an identity can be considered "non-perishable".  No matter when that identity is released, it's still just as usable as it was the day it was stolen.  Actually more so since everyone has relaxed their guard after a few years.

The victim will not connect their currents problems to an old incident
In most cases the victims will be thinking that they are safe.  They quit watching out for indications of identity theft.  They will also be befuddled when it happens.  A victim normally will not connect the identity theft that occurred today to losing their wallet five years ago.  Also victims who clear up an identity theft don't seem to understand, once stolen your identity is always in the wrong hands.

When your identity falls into the hands of an identity theft ring, your financial identity is secondary.  It is not the most important area of your identity.  The rings steal identities to provide social security numbers to undocumented workers, and also to provide non-criminal identities to felons.  They are not the garden variety ID thief who is looking to score your credit card numbers and bank accounts.  That's why even people who have the worst credit scores possible fall victim.

This is why in the long run it makes sense to have a credit monitoring/identity restoration product like Identity Theft Shield.  You will be covered now and in the future.  So when your identity has "aged" and is released into circulation 5 or 10 years down the line, you will know it and you will have a 30 year old experienced company standing with you to restore your identity in all areas.