Say the words “identity theft” and you’re likely to illicit a story from the person next to you. “My brother-in-law had somebody racking up credit card debt for him in Florida.” “Last year, someone stole our (full) garbage cans.”

But when you say the words “identity security,” or “identity theft protection,” people aren’t as forthcoming with stories, information, and ideas. They might say: “of yeah, my bank does that.” But most of the time, they can’t tell you what “that” is.

Take a few minutes to listen to an expert discuss how identity thieves operate, and how (specifically) they can be found, and stopped. Justin Yurek, President of ID Watchdog, the most comprehensive identity theft protection service, discusses some of the methods that identity thieves use to steal information, and how they use it to gain access to medical care, bank accounts, work in the United States (if they aren’t legally permitted to work here), and more.

But it’s not all bad news. Knowing how identity thieves work is just the first part of figuring out how to protect yourself from them. Yurek also explains how his service, ID Watchdog monitors thousands of data sources (not just credit reports), and makes it easy for consumers to see any signs of identity tampering. After finding a problem, Yurek says, it’s good to have people on your side who know how to fix it. That’s part of his company’s service as well.

Take a listen. You may learn something helpful that you can pass on next time the guy next to you says: “I got pulled over for speeding, and they told me that I was already in jail…”