Steps for Pro­tecting Your Identity from Hackers and Thieves

It's a problem that doesn't seem to be going away.  According to a recent survey by Bankrate.com, 41 million Americans have been the victim of some form of identity theft.

"That's a huge number of people," says Jill Cornfield, a personal finance reporter at Bankrate.com. "It's 38% of the population."

Unfortunately there's little consumers can do to prevent widespread hacks from occurring, but Cornfield says there are definitely steps we can take to minimize the damage to our own financial lives.  Take for instance the Yahoo data breach which saw hackers steal the login info for over 500 million accounts.

"After the big breaches, about half the population tends to go and check their credit report to see that everything looks alright...and another other half doesn't," Cornfield says.

In reality, you should be checking your credit report regularly...headline grabbing hack or not.

Think you've been compromised? Request a credit freeze, which among other things blocks fraudsters from opening new accounts in your name.

There are also steps you can take to reduce your vulnerability. First and foremost, don't use the same password across all your accounts. And while you're crafting all those unique passwords, avoiding using any information that can be easily guessed.

"Like your birth year, your address, part of your phone number," Cornfield says.

You also want don't want to log into any financial account -- or even do online shopping -- if you're using public Wi-Fi.

"If you have any kind of access that doesn't require a password, you're in a coffee shop or something, don't do any banking transactions because that information can definitely be taken from you," Cornfield says.

Finally your junk mail can be someone else's treasure, so be sure to shred anything - even new credit card offers - that might list your social security number or birthdate.

"Don't just toss it in the garbage even though it seems boiler plate and random.  Shred those things," Cornfield suggests.

That is before a thief has the chance to tear your credit score to pieces.