Data breaches are a modern fact of life at institutions large and small. Get used to it. When it became possible to place a freeze on my credit reports in California over a decade ago, I did so. Eventually, residents in all 50 states were able to place such freezes on their credit reports, but I suspect only a small percentage of American adults did so.  Are such credit report freezes even available in Canada? When you become a victim of identity theft, you may appreciate the benefits of a credit freeze on your reports.