Personally identifiable information can be a gateway to your organization’s networks. CEOs and other C-suite executives are particularly at risk. Their higher profile makes them visible, while their power and authority make them targets for spear phishing and whaling. A 2024 GetApp survey found that 72% of US senior executives had been the target of a cyber attack in the previous 18 months.
If attackers obtain information about you or other people in your organization, they can weaponize it. They can use it to craft convincing phishing scams and launch targeted attacks. And a successful attack can expose your business to costly operational disruption, regulatory sanctions, and lasting reputational damage.
Why personal data creates enterprise risk
Personal and professional data intertwine more than many people realize. Compromised credentials are a serious danger. Indeed, 80% of successful cyber attacks use stolen personal data.
It’s easy to see how attackers could misuse your email address or phone number. However, almost anything you share online creates risk. Your posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media all provide information that cybercriminals can use in social engineering, from your work history to updates about your family, friends, or hobbies.
Everything you do online leaves a trail of information about you that other people can see. Yours may reveal more about you than realize. What’s more, anything you publish on social media can linger on the internet for years, or even forever, and you’ve no control over who will see it.
This is why it’s important to actively manage your digital footprint. This means monitoring the information that’s publicly available about you, and taking steps to protect your personal privacy and reputation.
The 15-minute digital footprint audit
Securing your professional digital presence requires effort. However, with a systematic approach, you can identify and address your most critical exposures in just a few minutes.
Step 1: Search for yourself incognito
Open a private browser window and search for your name, email address, and common usernames. This shows you what outsiders can find out about you. Then:
- Document any outdated or sensitive information.
- If you find any sites posting your data without consent, ask them to remove it.
- Apply privacy controls where available.
- Check variations of your name and professional aliases.
Step 2: Review your app and social media permissions
Forgotten app permissions and oversharing on public accounts create security gaps. Many breaches start with compromised social media credentials. Clean up your apps and account by doing the following:
- List all your connected third-party applications.
- Revoke access for any services you no longer use.
- On all your platforms, ensure your privacy settings are as tight as possible.
- Separate your professional accounts from your personal accounts.
Step 3: Clean up your professional directories
Your old resumes and directory listings can linger online long after you’ve forgotten about them. These may contain detailed personal information about you, such as your home address, personal phone number, or your employment history. To stop sensitive information about you from circulating:
- Replace personal contact information with business contact details.
- Ask outdated professional directories to delete your entries.
- Update your current profiles to minimize the exposure of your personal data.
Step 4: Check your metadata
Photos and documents carry hidden metadata that can be revealing. For example, GPS coordinates and device information. Protect your content by doing the following:
- Strip the metadata from images before you post them online.
Step 5: Listen for mentions of your name
Who is talking about you? Set up Google Alerts for your name, email, and company, and regularly monitor for mentions of you online.
Beyond manual audits: The credential monitoring advantage
Manual searching only covers the surface web. However, your sensitive information might already circulate on deep web forums and dark web marketplaces that standard search engines can’t access.
Credential monitoring services, such as Cybercheck, scan these hidden areas continuously, detecting threats that manual audits can’t detect.
CTI solutions such as Cybercheck help you to stay safe by continuously monitoring for exposed credentials and personal data, providing early warning to stop attacks before they breach your defenses. This wipes out the cybercriminals’ information advantage.
If cybercriminals are trading information about people from your organization, including senior executives, we alert you immediately. Cybercheck can monitor for work accounts and for personal assets, such as Gmail accounts. Knowing that your personal data is in criminal hands means you can take proactive steps to prevent an attack. For example, changing passwords, blocking cards, or locking down access. That means you can shut out the attackers before they make you their next victim.
