What Can Someone Find About You Online in 10 Minutes?

Most people believe they are “private enough.”

Their social media is set to friends.
They don’t post anything extreme.
They’re not famous.

So they assume they’re safe.

But here’s the uncomfortable reality:

You don’t have to be important to be exposed.

You just have to be online.

And almost everyone is.

The Illusion of Privacy

According to the Pew Research Center, 79% of U.S. adults say they are concerned about how companies use their data. Yet the majority continue to share personal information across social media platforms, online shopping sites, mobile apps, and subscription services.

Every time you create an account, fill out a form, sign up for a newsletter, or order something online, information is collected.

That information doesn’t disappear.

It gets stored. Aggregated. Sold. Leaked. Indexed.

Often legally.

There are entire industries known as data brokers whose business model is collecting and selling personal information. These companies compile publicly available records, purchase consumer data, and package it into searchable profiles.

In many cases, with just a name and city, someone can find:

• Current and past addresses
• Phone numbers
• Age and date of birth
• Names of relatives
• Property ownership
• Estimated income range
• Political donations
• Online interests

No hacking required.

Just searching.

Real Breaches Made This Worse

Even if you personally don’t overshare, large-scale data breaches continuously expand the pool of exposed information.

According to the 2024 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million, the highest ever recorded. That cost reflects stolen and exposed personal data — email addresses, passwords, government IDs, and financial information.

In 2023, 23andMe confirmed attackers accessed profile and ancestry information affecting approximately 6.9 million users.

In 2024, AT&T disclosed that personal data from roughly 73 million current and former customers had been leaked, including Social Security numbers and account details.

The Identity Theft Resource Center reported that 2023 set a record for publicly reported data compromises in the United States.

And these are just the ones we know about.

Once data is leaked, it spreads. It’s copied, traded, archived, and resurfaced years later.

You may not remember signing up for a website in 2015.

The internet does.

It’s Not Just About Breaches — It’s About Open Information

There’s a term in cybersecurity called OSINT — Open-Source Intelligence.

It simply means gathering intelligence from publicly available information.

This is how scammers build believable stories.

They don’t guess.

They look.

A Facebook post mentioning a vacation.
A LinkedIn profile listing your employer.
An Instagram location tag.
A property record with your address.
An old email leak from a retail site.
A birthday posted publicly.

Put together, this becomes a profile.

And that profile makes phishing emails more convincing. It makes scam phone calls more believable. It makes impersonation easier.

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), Americans reported over 880,000 cybercrime complaints in 2023, with losses exceeding $12.5 billion. Phishing, identity theft, and social engineering remain among the most common tactics.

Most attacks don’t start with advanced hacking tools.

They start with information.

Why This Matters

Exposure increases risk.

If your email address has appeared in a breach and you reuse passwords, attackers can use automated tools to try that password across banking sites, social media, and shopping accounts. This is known as credential stuffing.

If your personal information is widely available online, scammers can impersonate utility companies, delivery services, or even family members.

If your phone number is public, you may receive targeted text scams that feel legitimate.

The risk isn’t theoretical.

It’s mathematical.

The more information available, the easier it is to build a convincing attack.

What You Can Do

Cybersecurity does not require paranoia.

It requires awareness.

Start here:

• Use strong, unique passwords for every account
• Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible
• Search your email on breach-notification websites to see if it has been exposed
• Review your social media privacy settings
• Limit public visibility of birthdays, phone numbers, and addresses
• Consider opting out of major data broker websites

Small changes dramatically reduce risk.

You don’t have to remove yourself from the internet.

But you should understand your digital footprint.

The Bigger Picture

We lock our doors at night.

We shred financial documents.

We monitor bank statements.

Digital life deserves the same level of attention.

Cybersecurity isn’t just about stopping hackers. It’s about understanding how visible you already are — and taking back control.

If you’ve never reviewed what’s publicly available about you, now is the time.

Your online presence is larger than you think.

And awareness is the first layer of protection.