Score one for the good guys, but the war may not be over.

Bannered across headlines recently was the third indictment of major hacker Albert Gonzales for counts of credit card fraud and conspiracy. Known in circles by his alias ’soupnazi,’ Gonzales had been operating since 2006 by breaking into computer security systems and stealing personal information, particularly credit card account numbers, from unsuspecting Americans.

Gonzales was said to have tapped several accomplices for his scheme, which involved transferring personal information of credit card holders across several computer servers. The data collected from bypassing bank firewalls was transferred to computer servers around the world, from states like California and Illinois, to overseas facilities in Latvia, The Netherlands and Ukraine.

According to prosecutors, Gonzales exploited this ill-gotten information for his personal gain until his eventual arrest and indictment. If convicted, he faces years in prison on top of a hefty fine.

It’s nice to hear news about proven criminals being put away, and justice being served. What is sobering, however, is the knowledge that somewhere out there, there could be someone else who is up to the same thing. The only difference is that the authorities haven’t collared him or her yet.

Already reports abound of millions of dollars lost to credit card fraud. It is estimated that any given major card issuing company, including national banks, has lost close to $2.8 million for the year 2005 due to credit issues. Across the board, the total for loss can be up to as much as $500 million in a single year.

More and more people are still signing on for new cards, and transactions are still taking place despite these statistics. This only serves to embolden hackers as they try to snag more and more numbers, accounts and dollars off of regular people.

Even scarier: it might just be YOUR information that they’re after, if they haven’t gotten it already. It is estimated that 10% of all credit card fraud falls under no-card fraud, similar to Gonzales’ modus operandi, which involves taking the information on the card and using it to spend cashlessly.

What can you do to protect yourself, you ask? There are some easy things to remember, according to some experts.

Never tell others your account information. You’ve heard this line well over thousands of times before, but it still holds true. Keeping your data secret is best by keeping it secret.

Keep records safe. Whether you keep it in a journal or a lucky photo, any info you have about yourself should also be secured. You don’t need to keep it in a vault. Just keep it safe and easily accessible only to you and people you trust.

Keep receipts. Receipts are the best proof that you did your own spending, and you can prove that something was spent exactly when, where and for what.

Memorize that PIN number. From this day forward, you are hereby forbidden to write that number anywhere. Remember it like the way you remember your name. (If you MUST have some record in case you forget, keep it physically away from your card.)

Remember to keep multiple accounts. This is especially true for prepaid cards and payroll cards. It’s simply making sure your eggs aren’t all in one basket.

Never lose your card! Or at the very least, if you do lose it, call the card company A.S.A.P. No excuses. Even if you do find the card in the end, it is the best, safest thing you can do to prevent unwanted debt.

At the end of the day, it’s your job to keep yourself and your finances safe and sound. We often write off stories of fraud as “Oh, that will never happen to me” kinds of anecdotes. At the end of it all, however, it’s still best to stay ahead of whatever can happen.