Find out how to safeguard your identity in a world of Dumpster divers, mail thieves and shoulder surfers. Plus: What to do if your identity is stolen.

Americans are facing an attack on their personal and financial privacy unlike that seen by any prior generation.

Shielding your private financial information with no risk of a breakdown may be impossible these days. But its critical to understand how your privacy can be compromised and the consequences of such a breach -- and take a few simple steps to, if nothing else, better the odds in your favor.

Identity theft booming
This rather broad term takes in any number of privacy crimes, including theft of a Social Security number, a credit or debit card, or even the pilfering of phone calling cards.

The word shopping brings a feeling of immediate excitement to most people. But if you combine the word shopping with car insurance — as in "shopping for car insurance" — it produces the opposite effect. The thought of shopping for auto insurance makes the eyes glaze over and the heart rate drop to the pace of a slumbering couch potato.

Couch potato? Indeed. Doug Heller, a consumer advocate at The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights (a California-based consumer advocacy group) and a recognized insurance issues specialist, told us that too often "people purchase insurance by calling the number on the screen."