There is one little personality quirk that if you don’t already have, you should acquire in the new year and that’s becoming paranoid. I don’t mean little green men sending you a signal from outer space paranoid, but rather keeping a close watch on your financial information paranoid.

Welcome to 2015, which may prove to be the year everyone with a computer, bank account or credit card runs the risk of being hacked or experiencing a credit fraud. You don’t have to be SONY to have your e-mails and credit information exposed. All you have to be is you.

There are several things you can do on a regular basis to keep your financial and personal information secure, and all it takes is a little work and a lot of skepticism. Start with a free copy of your credit report which you are entitled to every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. You can order this on line at www.annualcreditreport.com. Reviewing your report can help you uncover identify fraud by seeing if new accounts have been opened in your name or if there are unfamiliar inquiries on your report. Just so you know this isn’t going to be a fun read. Depending on how many credit transactions you have, the report could be pages long and a little confusing. However, posted items that may not have been generated by you should jump off the page.

Next get in the habit of monitoring your credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts at least several times a week. If there are transactions you don’t recognize, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.

Another safeguard is to place fraud alerts and a security freeze on your credit file. Fraud alerts encourage creditors to verify any request made in your name to open a new line of credit or obtain a new card on an existing account,and can be created through any of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. In addition, you can also purchase from any of the three major credit reporting companies, Equifax, TransUnion or Experian, a credit monitoring service that will alert you via e-mail about unexpected transactions. Note that fraud alerts and security freezes could also block large or unusual transactions that you may be making, like major purchases or travel, especially international travel. It would be a good idea to contact your credit card companies to alert them of any pending transactions that may be blocked.

Lastly, protect your passwords by changing them frequently and selecting strong and unique passwords. Do not use the same password across multiple accounts, and do not base your passwords on personal information that a hacker might already have access to.

It’s not unusual for an identity thief to wait up to a year or longer before using your personal information, so don’t let your guard down after you have a suspicion that your credit may have been compromised. As we know, several major retailers including Staples and Target have been hacked and hackers have stolen their customer’s credit card information. Staples is actually offering to pay for a credit monitoring service if you were one of their customers that are affected.

And how important is keeping your financial information secure? Not only is it important to avoid charges to your accounts or new credit being established in your name, which can become time consuming to reverse, but a credit fraud could impact your overall credit rating and credit score. Getting this misinformation straightened out in the case of a major fraud event could take a long time and delay the purchase of a home, car and even qualification for insurance.

So enjoy your newly acquired paranoia. It will prove to be very useful for your financial health just ignore the little green men.