A recent report by security firm McAfee highlights the growing trend in organized gangs hiring students to train as hackers, virus authors and spyware creators. Nothing new in that, and gangs in Russia and Buglaria have been using students and teachers of computer sciences over the last decade to help them capitalize on the new crime opportunities the internet presented.

But a slightly new twist has organized gangs taking a smarter step further, and planting their prodigies in large businesses so they can launch their attacks from the inside. It makes perfect sense, and identity theft by insiders has been on the rise for years. And these insiders get paid twice - by their surrogate employers and by their real employers - to hone their expertise.

It's another reminder, as if you needed one, that the best firewalls and spyware protection will do little to protect you against trusted companies that have been infiltrated by criminals.

Don't worry as much about stopping thieves stealing your information but stopping them from using it. The best protection is monitoring your personal information around the clock so that whenever a thief, insider or outsider tries to abuse your info, you'll be ready to block it.