According to Gartner, incidents of identity theft are increasing in the United States. Here are the stats: Approximately 15 million Americans were victims of fraud related to identity theft in the 12 months from August 2005 to August 2006, Gartner says, a more than 50% increase from the Federal Trade Commission’s estimate of 9.9 million identity-theft-related crimes in 2003.

What the heck is going on? As more and more business is done online the risk for identity exposure is ever increasing. If this occurs to you, expect to spend countless hours working with your bank, credit card company, and other institutions to claim that the expenses where not yours. Not to mention the effect that it can have on your D&B Score.

So what can you do? The first action item for you is to take your business and personal security seriously, by implementing simple security rules for your business.

Next, see what kind of ID Theft protection your financial providers can provide. There are many great programs out there that can make it more difficult for someone to use your identity to have new credit issued.

Finally, go through a risk analysis with a security professional that can help you identify the loopholes and vulnerabilities that may exist in your business.