What personal information gives me away?
Personal information tells a lot about you as a person and it could be used by anyone for good or bad. For example, if you’ve been waiting for your favorite band to come to town and purchase tickets from Ticketmaster, the information you share about yourself like name, phone and email address lets Ticketmaster send out the tickets to you or remind you when the band is visiting next.
On the flipside, if the information is exposed as it was when Ticketmaster experienced a data breach, it could be used by cybercrooks to do nasty stuff like credit card fraud or identity theft.
Pro tip
When sharing personal information, less is more. It’s a good idea to only hand over details that are absolutely necessary. If you aren’t entirely sure how the information will be used or what it’s being collected for, you can always ask the person or check out the organization’s privacy policy.
Bits of personal information and sensitive personal data on its own isn’t always the thing that gives you away. For instance, there are plenty of people named John Smith. When it’s combined with other details like an address or phone number, it becomes easier to narrow down the list. Names aren’t the only pieces of the puzzle since there are many other examples of personal information that include: