In an era of identity theft and massive security breaches, Americans continue to be lax in protecting their identities and personal information, according to new recent report.

In a survey of 1,300 people from across the country, only 44 per cent say they are more cautious as a result of recent problems with national retailers in the news.

One in four has never changed his or her personal identification numbers and one in five uses the same online banking password for different accounts.

One in three Americans say they know their spouse or partner's PIN (library image)

An overwhelming 71 per cent say they physically write down their usernames and passwords in order to remember them, leaving open the possibility that anyone could be privy to it.

One in three say they know their spouse or partner's PIN and one in 10 admits to knowing their own mother's pin.

Facts and figures on identity theft revealed

It's a tangled web and most Americans can't seem to find their way out.

Nearly 40 per cent say that at least one person knows their user name and password and one in 10 admits to giving a bank card and PIN to a co-worker or friend to take out cash at an ATM or make a store purchase.

Despite that, nearly one in three worries that the friend or co-worker will one day take advantage of their trust in them.

Michael Greene, chairman and CEO of ID Watchdog, an online identity theft protection service, said: 'It is important to protect your passwords and use strong combinations with alternate characters and numbers, but don't write them down.

'Users should change their passwords regularly, and also to be sure to use different passwords on your different accounts.

'It's the same as locking your door when you leave the house for the day.'

Interestingly 16 per cent of those surveyed say their identity has been stolen before, mostly from theft of wallets, purses, social security numbers and mail.

Nearly half say it devastated their credit, debit card and bank accounts and one in 10 were never able to resolve their problems.

'In this digital age, all of our digital information is at risk,' said Greene. 'Hackers steal account credentials in the thousands to millions at a time, and with those credentials they steal your identity.'

According to the Federal Trade Commission's annual report on consumer complaints, identity theft continues to top its list of consumer complaints.

Americans reported losing more than $1.6 billion to fraud last year. The Commission received more than two million complaints overall, and 14 percent were identity theft related.

For consumers who peruse social media, shop and apply for credit online, sharing personal information is often difficult to avoid. Three out of five enter their social security online when asked, and 47 percent say they provide their entire birthdate - month, day and birth year - on social media.