This topic has been around for a long time, but now in this internet era to identity theft is a must. Almost everyone has heard horror story about someone got his life mess up because of identify theft.  You should take some steps to get protected from identify theft, because they want to take your financial information and if they do it you will live an horror story.
To get protection from identity theft you can do basics things starting from home.  You should have a paper shredder to shred all your personal documents and financial documents before putting it on the trash.  These people who are looking to steal your identity has no scruples looking into your garbage.  For example if you are receiving credit card or loan offers through your mail it is important that you shredded this before throwing it to the trash. This protection is called the first line of defense and is very cheap..
It is a must that your bank offer where you have your credit card offer you some kind of protection against identify theft.   That is that if you have the minimum suspicious that someone has stolen your identity, they can immediately blocked all your accounts and assets.  It is also important that this bank notify you when they see an unusual activity in your accounts.   This type of protection from identity theft is very useful, it mean that whenever you got on vacation you should notify your bank that you will be spending more money and also in the location where you will be, that is that the bank will be aware of the location where the transaction will be taking place.  You should not get mad about them, because that is part of their job and is for your security.
One useful way of protecting your identity from identity theft is to freeze your credit report.  In some countries it is banned to look for someone credit report without his  consent.   I have just learned this recently, in this form you can find out  who is the one that want to steal your identity. What this do is that it stops new credit cards and account opened in your name.   This tips are a good begin to get protected from identity theft