Say Cheese
Stealing your identity isn't hard, but stealing your face is. Take advantage, therefore, of an option offered by certain credit card companies and retail stores that sponsor their own plastic: Your photo can be affixed to your credit card.

Avoid Casual Clues
You welcome trouble into your life when you use your birth date or your mother's maiden name as your clue password or PIN for bank and credit card accounts. Savvy identity thieves are adept at obtaining this information. They simply ferret out birth certificates and other public records online, then use the significant dates they find there to guess passwords until they succeed in cracking your account.

How to Protect Yourself
If a company asks for your maiden name or your mother's maiden name, reply that you want to use an alternative password to that. Alternatively, fabricate a maiden name or pick a bogus birthday—one that you can easily remember, of course.

Get more tips of Sid's tips on how to protect your credit.