NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A majority of Americans fear the threat of identity theft and are doing something about it, according to a recent poll conducted by Money magazine and ICR.

The telephone poll, which surveyed a little more than 1,000 individuals in June, revealed that 78 percent of those interviewed expressed concern that their identity may be stolen.

Only 8 percent of those interviewed claimed to have been a victim of identity theft.

Ninety-six percent of Americans said they have taken some precautionary measure to protect their personal information.

Topping the list of precautions was shredding personal documents -- 80 percent of those surveyed said they destroyed papers with personal information.

The other most popular deterrents were refusing to share Social Security numbers, not giving out personal information online and requesting companies not share data with outside firms.

The survey also revealed regional concerns as 45 percent of those individuals polled that lived in western states said they were a victim of identity theft or knew someone who experienced it.

Those individuals interviewed in the South had the second highest rate of reporting identity theft, at 28 percent.

The margin of error in the poll was 3.09 percent.

Click here for CNN/Money's special report "Mission: Security".