8.3 million private records have been put at risk in 250 separate data breaches this year according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.

Money Magazine recommends three protective measures: (1) use free credit report tools- annualcreditreport.com and sign up for a no-cost notification service; (2) put a 90-day fraud alert on all credit reports; and (3) freeze credit by requiring a password through the big 3 credit bureaus online if you believe there was a breach.
 
 
Money.com, June 2014