But that is starting to change. A new breed of products has hit the market that tackles the trickier matter of preventing identity theft and fraud of multiple kinds before they happen. New approaches include scouring the Internet in search of signs that criminals have your information, so you can move to block them. Others focus on keeping your data away from criminals in the first place, locking it down while you bank, shop or do other delicate tasks online. Here are some ways to keep your information yours.

Assessing Risk

LifeLock and CardCops, among others, scour the Internet and online hacker chat rooms and warn customers if they spot their data. LifeLock, for one, also tries to infiltrate hacker communities and collect any records they find.

Perhaps the most interesting new arrival in this space is StolenIDsearch.com, a site operated by TrustedID, which uses a database created by Colin Holder, a 30-year veteran of Scotland Yard, that contains stolen records gathered from long-time, trusted informants.

It is free to search the database, which holds about 129 million records tied to an estimated 50 million individuals, most of whom live in the United States.

If any of your information is there, the site will describe, generically, what it has.

To see the records themselves costs $15, which Mr. Holder says covers administrative costs and helps ensure that only people entitled to information receive it. He also provides the data to banks and law enforcement authorities.

Sidestepping Malware

SafeCentral ($40 for as many as three computers; Windows only), a product from the security-software company Authentium, protects you even if there is malware on your computer by giving you a separate, secure browser that you can use when you bank, trade stocks, view health information or shop online.

When you visit a sensitive site, SafeCentral asks if you want to proceed securely. If you choose to do so, a background resembling armor plating appears. In this safe room of sorts, certain Windows features regularly abused by attackers have been disabled. (continued...)

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