Senf said for Canadian channel partners, a wealth of opportunities are available for those working in this space.

"Channel partners can help firms define policies for sensitive data because not a lot of them have these in place," Senf said. "There are opportunities for partners to find and help train firms to become aware and vigilant with these policies. Vulnerability, security, identity and event management are also areas that can help an organization understand what's going on because they can help provide visibility within their network."

As found by Phone Busters, an anti-fraud call center associated with the Government of Canada and the RCMP, between January 1 and December 31, 2007, over C$6 million (US$5.9 million) in losses were reported by Canadians linked to identity fraud.

Ram Manchi, president of AGMA (Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement), a non-profit organization based in the US, that works to educate and raise awareness around the issues of IT counterfeiting and the gray market, said in the gray market, hackers who do bulk purchasing can obtain user IDs and passwords for as little as 50 cents to $1. Furthermore, Symantec's ISTR stated that full identities, when purchase in larger volumes, often ranged anywhere from $1 to $15.

Senf and Manchi both said businesses also need to establish and invest in more control and maintenance when it comes to securing their company infrastructure.

"The key is control, authentication and verification," Manchi explains, "these things have to be constantly monitored and procedures also need to be in place in the company's back-end to make sure authentication and encryption is being done as needed."

Mark Lorne, general manager of technology at retailer Grand & Toy, said for businesses and personal use, encrypted USB keys are best suited for storing personal and important information. These portable devices, he advises users, should already have security features built in such as file and data encryption.

He also warns that identity thieves may also be a lot closer to home than we think.

"When people think about identity theft and security, they tend to imagine an identity thief as someone far away," Lorne said. "They forget about the person sitting right beside them. A business person updating a proposal on a plane trip, for example, should be aware that the notebook's screen is visible to (those) sitting on either side, or across the aisle," he added.

In this case, he suggests travelers invest in products such as notebook privacy screens, which are portable privacy filters that fit directly over top of a notebook screen to provide visibility only to the user who's sitting directly in front of the display.

For personal and businesses, Lorne also suggests an investment in a paper shredder to ensure information is not being lost and/or stolen.

"Putting a piece of paper in the recycle bin doesn't mean that the valuable information printer on it is...gone," Lorne said. "Anyone combing through waste can find it. Grand & Toy offers a complete line of paper shredders for personal...or communal areas. (To protect both their personal and corporate data, users) should shred all personal and confidential documents," he adds.