Unless you’ve been touched by it or have known someone who’s been a victim, you may not think much about identity theft. When Equifax Inc. announced a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting approximately 143 million U.S. consumers, hearing about this made me want to share how to start protecting yourself. We’re all likely to be affected by ID theft at some point if we haven’t been already; or worse, we’re being victimized right now and do not even know it.

The good news is we can each take simple steps to protect ourselves and our families and stop ID thieves in their tracks. Here are three easy actions you can take:

1. Check your credit report regularly – One of the best ways to detect and stop identity theft is to check your credit report on a regular basis. You can get one free report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com. I recommend getting one at this time from...