Its too easy to tune out advice about new ways to prevent identity theft and other threats to your personal information even as the holiday shopping season gets into full swing That seems like someone elses problem But if you feel that way then check out this video taken last month in Sacramento Calif The Placer County Sheriffs Office was looking for two men caught on security cameras trying to withdraw money from stolen accounts That could be your money Or talk to Amie OShaughnessy a travel agent from Piedmont Calif who contacted me this morning Someone posed as me in an email to my finance manager and had her wire 50 000 out of our business account she told me I was powerless to influence or control yet Im 100 liable for the loss This doesnt seem right Its not right Personal data is increasingly valuable says Chris Dimitriadis a board director for ISACA an international professional association focused on IT governance ISACAs latest report on cybersecurity suggests IT budgets are increasing as companies gear up for a war against cybercriminals The cyber-threat landscape is expanding adds Dimitriadis The fix Understanding the extent of the problem its bigger than you thought learning a few new strategies theyre not what you expect and knowing when youve been compromised believe it or not you probably already have been YOU MAY ALSO LIKE Getty Getty You can prevent identity theft and other kinds of digital mayhem Last month Chubb hosted a panel with industry experts from ADT Carnegie Mellon University and CyberScout outlining a range of cyber threats The panel described real-life examples and anecdotes and offered some best practices individuals and businesses can take to safeguard their personal information against some of todays biggest cyber risks Heres the full video More than 10 billion consumer records have been compromised in 8 000 reported data breaches according to Chubb An astounding 64 of American adults have been victimized by one or more of these breaches it found Global economic costs of cybercrime are rising into the trillions of dollars annually said Patrick Thielen Chubbs senior vice president for cyber and technology product lead in North America who led the panel discussion A large portion of that falls squarely on the shoulders of consumers If you dont have cyber insurance on your homeowners policy then youre out of luck and need a consumer advocate to help sort through it This is where my advocacy team and I come in But once the money is gone its really difficult to recover it as my Forbes colleague Laura Shin recently explained Getty Getty How bad is the identity theft problem How bad is the identity theft problem at this time of year Very bad according to experts The National Retail Federation predicts that online and nonstore sales would increase by 10 to 12 in 2018 which means that more consumers are shopping online and they are conducting more individual transactions More transactions mean more opportunities for bad guys to trick users hijack sessions and steal personal information says Chris Duvall senior director at The Chertoff Group a global security advisory firm Its not just more purchases but our increased usage of phones and computers to complete those transactions To prevent identity theft you have to factor that into the equation Our reliance on technology and as a consequence our digital footprints are growing at an exponential rate says Sean McGrath a privacy expert and cybersecurity advocate at BestVPNcom As long as this trend continues our personal information will always be more at risk now than it has at any other point in history Its simple math As if thats not enough criminals are becoming more sophisticated too Cybercriminals are getting smarter with their attacks says Idan Udi Edry CEO of Trustifi a secure email platform Experts say the emails theyre sending to would-be victims look more authentic than ever -- and have never been more effective Getty Getty Here are a few new ways to prevent identity theft Experts say there are new ways to prevent identity theft during the holiday shopping season First theres the sniff test Beware of pricing that is too good to be true says Scott Grissom a vice president for Legal Shield a legal services company Check reviews on greatly discounted items to make sure they do not have major problems Online scammers often set up dummy websites auction listings or ads that offer popular items far below market value Trust your instincts and beware of scam sales Use a credit card Michael Bancroft co-host of Globalive Medias Beyond Innovation on Bloomberg Television says plastic can protect you Consider using a credit card rather than a debit card because they tend to offer more robust fraud protections and the money isnt coming directly from your bank account he says Beware of phishing emails from a business Odia Kagan partner and chair of GDPR compliance and international privacy at the law firm Fox Rothschild says be on the lookout for any emails asking for information like passwords coming from a retailer Those could be phishing emails intended to use your data says Kagan These emails are getting increasingly sophisticated could contain personal information of yours and are no longer full of spelling mistakes Use a password vault Thats the advice of Araz Feyzi the co-founder of Syfer an online security company Lets face it he says Very few people manage their passwords properly Most people pick easy-to-remember passwords reuse them over and over and change them very infrequently Instead he recommends using a password vault like 1Password or LastPass which allow you to create store and manage your passwords Browse safer All information should be transferred to your browser from the server and vice versa through HTTPS -- and not HTTP says Mihai Corbuleac a senior IT consultant at ComputerSupportcom Verify that your session is encrypted and that your connection is secure Corbuleac also recommends keeping your browser operating system and the antivirus solution updated Why Unpatched software remains one of the most common causes of malware infections Avoid the easy check-out Hani Mustafa CEO of Jazz Networks a cyber intelligence company advises avoiding saving your personal information online Often when booking flights rental cars or hotels youre asked to create a profile to save your credit card information for an easier check-out he says More like an easier data loss Dont save your personal information on websites and if you cant follow this advice make sure you dont reuse a password he says Practice safe computing Thats what Scott Shackelford an associate professor of business law and ethics in the Indiana University Kelley School of Business recommends He recommends a program like Spirion formerly Identity Finder to find and encrypt sensitive information on your computer Also he adds Dont bank on your mobile phone and consider using a separate secure wi-fi connection or other computer for personal computing at home How do you know if youre compromised Whats even harder than preventing your data from being compromised Knowing if youve been hacked You can find out if your account has been compromised by checking Haveibeenpwnedcom One of the best and immediate signs is unknown charges or withdrawals that you did not make showing up on your statement says William Rials associate director of applied computing programs at Tulane University School of Professional Advancement During the holiday season it is essential to keep a close look at all of your financial statements Dont wait until the end of the month to reconcile your accounts during the financial season The more often you monitor and verify all charges and withdrawals the better chance you have at stopping identity theft And its not just the computer Every time the phone rings says Robert Siciliano a security analyst with HotspotShield beware of scammers Better to keep your personal information safe using these practical strategies Dont star in a police video -- or become an anecdote in one of my stories Only you can prevent identity theft this holiday shopping season Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who cant Hes the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes weekly columns for King Features Syndicate USA Today and the Washington Post If you have a consumer problem you cant solve contact him directly through his advocacy website You can also follow him on Twitter Facebook and LinkedIn or sign up for his daily newsletter