There are many different types of identity theft cases and not all cases result in any damage to an individual's credit score or finances. In some situations a large company, sometimes a credit card company, store, insurance company or other type of financial institute is breached by hackers. When this happens someone, using illegal means, has accessed a reputable companies database. These databases contain literally thousand if not hundreds of thousands or records of some type of personal information. It may be credit card numbers, social security numbers or even bank account numbers. By law these institutions or companies must notify you that there is a possible breach of your security, and they have to provide options for how to protect yourself. For the vast number of cases this typically means closing the account and being re-issued a new account, including a new pin number or access code. Failing to follow the recommendations to secure your account or information could put you at risk of becoming one of the mounting number of identity theft cases.