1.    File a fraud warning on your credit reports and examine the credit reports that you get as a result. You may call any one of the three leading credit bureaus to send the fraud alert.
2.    Terminate any accounts that have been opened illegally.
3.    File a complete report with your local police.
4.    File a complaint notice with the FTC.

As you start the process of recovering your identity, the paper work will begin. Maintaining a good paper trail will help you support and assemble your case. The Identity Theft Resource Center provides some useful guidelines for organizing your data in their website. The FTC also provides advices for organizing your identity theft case. In general, you need to:
Keep duplicates of all forms or correspondence you send.
Write down the name of person you talk to, what he told you, and the date of the conversation.
Keep the original documents, like letters to and from creditors and police reports; send the copies only.
Establish a filing system for quick access to your paperwork.
Keep unused files even if your case is settled.  One of the most annoying and difficult things of identity theft is that wrong information may resurface on your credit reports. Should this occur, you will be grateful you kept your files.

Encryption utilizes digital keys to encrypt and decrypt data while it’s being sent over the Internet, which makes it incredibly hard for anyone but the intended receiver to tamper or see. Through encryption, a key on the transmitting end locks data, and the key on the receiving end unlocks it. While the information in en route, good encryption technique makes it virtually impracticable for outsiders to peep or meddle with the information -in your case, your financial and personal data. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard technology of information security on the Internet. Secure Sockets Layer uses digital certificates to confirm that the two computers in an information transaction are valid before exchanging the encryption keys. Before you use the credit card to buy merchandise online – in fact, before you type any of your personal data online -you want to be certain the site uses 128-bit SSL to keep your personal data secure. Checking this is simple – in the bottom-right corner of the browser, just look for the lock icon. If you put the mouse pointer over the icon, you may even see a popup that says SSL 128. If you double click the icon, you see information, which tells you that the site’s status is authentic and the data traffic is encrypted.

Encryption can also be employed to protect e-mail messages as well as personal information files that you store on your personal computer. The encryption software known as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) enables you to encrypt this important data yourself. PGP offers a freeware version (free software) for home use.

VeriSign uses another method to know that the site you are visiting is trustworthy. You’re most likely find the VeriSign icon on the site’s security and privacy page. If you click the VeriSign icon, you get a window that tells you what security steps that site is using within VeriSign. Because familiar logos and names like VeriSign give people confidence, of course, online fraudsters try to use them in unscrupulous techniques. Savvy identity thieves can build a site, imitate a logo, or create their own certificates. Use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and the VeriSign digital logo and certificates as indicators to make sure the web site you’re visiting really the organization or company it claims to be.