Think your identity is safe? Your personal info might be more public than you think.

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Think your identity is safe? Your personal info might be more public than you think.

Despite increased awareness of the need to safeguard personal information, reported cases of identity theft continue to rise year after year.

The Federal Trade Commission, for instance, logged 1,135,270 identity theft reports in 2024, an increase of nearly 100,000 from the year before. AARP estimated that Americans lost $43 billion due to identity theft and fraud in 2023. And, according to the Motley Fool, 2025 is shaping up to be another year of increasing privacy concerns.

These statistics may lead you to wonder what, exactly, people can easily find out about you on the internet. How can you see this information, and what can you do to prevent more information about you from popping up on various websites? PeopleFinders has that information and more below.

Defining ‘Identity’

Identity, in the context of identity theft and fraud, refers to personally identifiable information (PII) that individuals can use to connect that data to a specific person. Three common pieces of PII you can find about many people are their name, address, and phone number, collectively referred to as NAP. Those details have commonly been widely accessible, even before the internet.

Some personally identifiable information, though, should not be accessible to ordinary people. Data like your Social Security number, Employee Identification Number (EIN), driver’s license number, credit card number, and medical records are usually protected through one or more privacy protection laws, such as HIPAA. Such information is usually described as sensitive personal information and is a priority for fraudsters and other bad actors.

How Do Details About Your Identity Become Public?

Besides your name, mailing address, phone number, and, occasionally, email address, personal details can become public information in a number of ways, including:

• Through bankruptcy or legal proceedings.
• By marriage (or sometimes, divorce).
• Voting for the first time (who or what, exactly, you vote for is still confidential).
• Achieving professional licenses or certifications, especially those granted by a government agency.
• Having your employer publish information about you on the company website.
• Posting personal information on your social media profiles.

Personally Identifiable Information: Direct Versus Indirect

Another way of looking at PII is through the dual classifications of direct versus indirect. Direct PII includes your name, physical or email address, driver’s license number, passport number, and Social Security number—data that is unique to you.

Indirect PII refers to general categories like your gender, race, date of birth, and religion. Someone might be able to figure out your identity if they have multiple pieces of indirect PII.

A Quick Word on Data Mining

Data mining is the practice of scraping and storing user behavior by big technology firms like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple. Companies that have the capability to collect personalized consumer data often use it to show targeted advertisements or, in their terminology, provide “customized user experiences.”

Consumers consent to having their online behavior tracked, collected, and distributed in a number of ways. Many times, these terms are buried beneath mountains of fine print in user agreements. Other times, simply allowing cookies when you visit a new website puts data in the hands of big tech.

How Can You Protect Your Personally Identifiable Information?

Despite living in an era of decreased anonymity, you can do a few things to protect your personal information and limit the chances of identity theft.

These actions include:

• Limiting the information you provide on your social media profiles.
• Setting your social media profiles to “private.”
• Not sharing your personal information with people you don’t know and websites that seem less than reputable.
• Not clicking on links from suspicious emails (phishing attempts).
• Browsing in private or incognito mode.

In the meantime, you may be curious about your personally identifiable information currently on the internet. People search tools allow you to search via name, address, or lookup phone numbers to see what your digital footprint looks like. You can also use it to verify someone else’s identity.

Stay Safe, Stay Vigilant

Having your name, address, and phone number available to other internet users isn’t necessarily a bad thing on its own. Problems can occur, however, when someone gains sensitive details about you, such as your credit card information, Social Security number, or driver’s license number. Being careful about where you send your information is important in the digital age, as is monitoring your name on comprehensive, widely available online databases.

This story was produced by PeopleFinders and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.