ZDNET’s key takeaways
- In five minutes, anyone can find out about anyone in disconcerting detail.
- Run through our checklist to see exactly how quick and easy data gathering can be.
- Consider our recommendations for cleaning up your digital footprint.
You might be worried about cybercriminals scouring the internet for your data, but far more searches happen much closer to home.
It takes a second for someone to look you up online, and the reasons they might do vary: a first date could be coming up and the person you’re meant to meet wants to make sure you are who you say you are; your new landlord wants to see what sort of person they are going to be renting to; past friends or no-contact family members might be trying to track you down; or the hiring manager of a job you applied for could be running a check to see how you behave on social media.
Also: The best data removal services
This article was made possible in part by Incogni. It was written and edited independently without partner oversight.
Of course, there are malicious reasons as well why someone might want your information: a stranger wants to find out your schedule and the locations you’re likely to be, or a scammer wants enough personal data to impersonate you and steal your identity.
What can a stranger find about you?
There’s far more of your information out there than you realize, and with it, someone can work out your movements, habits, and more. Here’s how it’s done and what you can do to stop it.
Step 1: Start with the basics (30 seconds)
Search your full name in quotes, then add your city or employer, or some other type of keyword. Note what page one shows.
For example, type in “John Smith New York” or “John Smith Microsoft.”
Why quotes? Because using quotes forces search engines to search for that exact phrasing, rather than relying on contextual clues or inferring another type of search intent. It tends to reveal more than if you didn’t use quotes, as it can help pin down web pages and links related to you.
Typing your name into Google or another search engine takes seconds; then add a few more seconds to scan what appears. It’s likely that social media pages will appear, as well as any public website that includes your name and location or your name and employer.
Potential employers, recruiters, landlords, and others will likely look at your public social media pages, LinkedIn, forum posts, and any other websites in easy reach. They can reveal everything from your location and friend groups to your opinions, hobbies, and work history.
Step 2: People search websites (1 minute)
Run your name through a people search site, such as Whitepages or Spokeo. It’s unlikely that strangers or casual connections — such as a landlord or recruiter — would pay for these services, so whatever is shown for free should be enough.
You will need to provide your name and other details that narrow the search, such as your location (city or ZIP code), phone number, or email address.
Also: The easiest way to remove myself from the internet took seconds
You may find entries including an address history, your age, contact details, or even relatives and family connections. If you’re paying, this may extend to work history, court and criminal records, relationship status, neighbors, and more.
Whitepages is the quickest way to check. Visit the homepage, type in your full name and your city, state, or ZIP code, and click search. While some details are masked unless you purchase a full record, this will show you what others can quickly find out.
How do people search websites know about me?
People search websites use a variety of sources, including:
- Federal, state, and county databases and public records
- Social media platforms
- Datasets purchased from data brokers
- In-house databases and collections
Step 3: Reverse image search (30 seconds)
Try reverse image searching a profile photo — such as from your main social media profile or LinkedIn image — using Google Images or TinEye to see where else it appears.
To do this, save a copy of your profile photo to your laptop, PC, or smartphone, then visit Google Images and select “search by image.” Alternatively, paste, drag, or upload your image to TinEye, and hit submit.
Another simple way to check what images are linked to you is to refer to step 1 above; type “[name] [location]” or “[name] [employer]” into a search engine and select the “images” tab.
If any photos of you appear, you can click them and visit the linked websites and profiles to examine the image’s source.
Step 4: What’s my name? (1 minute)
Search for your usernames on WhatsMyName.app to find forgotten accounts and search results.
Whatsmyname.app is an interesting service you can use for free. If you tend to use the same username across the web and it is firmly linked with your identity, it is worth running a quick check to see if there are any accounts you’ve forgotten about that are expanding your digital footprint.
Also: How to clean up your digital footprint – and why it matters
It might look complicated, but it’s not. Just type your username(s), such as “John Doe,” “JohnDoe1998,” or “JohnDoe,” separated by commas, and click the green “search” button. You’ll have to spend a few seconds completing a CAPTCHA.
Account discovery is organized into categories, including social media, political opinion, finance, gaming, health, and hobbies. You can also choose your category filters on the left side of the search bar. If you’re concerned that there may be adult content linked to you, for example, you can select “NSFW” (Not Safe for Work).
Step 5: Social media (2 minutes)
Your social media profiles, whether Facebook, X, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn, are going to be some of the first places a stranger will look to find out about you, and this is where you should spend an extra minute or two.
To perform this check as quickly as possible, you have several options: visit your main account page to see what is public, or log out and search for yourself on each individual platform.
- X (formerly Twitter): This is easy enough; visit https://x.com/[your-profile-name]. Quickly scan your public posts, replies, and media to see what’s out there in the public domain.
- Bluesky: The same goes for this Twitter offshoot: visit https://bsky.app/profile/[your-profile-name].
- Instagram: If you want to keep your account public, briefly scan your photos and content to see if anything could reveal information such as your location, favorite haunts, or hobbies.
- TikTok: You don’t need to log out to see what’s publicly available about you if your TikTok account is linked to your name, a nickname, or your brand. Simply visit https://www.tiktok.com/@your-profile-username to view public videos.
- LinkedIn: Head over to LinkedIn, click the arrow underneath your profile photo in the top right, and select “View Profile.” From here, you can see what is publicly shown, such as your location and work history.
Can AI be used to look you up?
“This is notable — she doesn’t just write about hackers, she gets her hands dirty. Rugby and Formula 1 fan. Consistent across all her bios.” — ChatGPT’s report about me.
This will take at least five minutes, but it will give you the most comprehensive look at what is available online about you in a single search. People can absolutely use AI for a people search; it can take less than a minute to run and can provide detailed results.
Also: 5 ways to scour the dark web for your data
Open up ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI platform and use a suitable prompt to create a profile on yourself. I tried out a number of prompts on different AI platforms, and the most successful was a career- and networking-driven prompt posted on Medium that you could adapt to your own needs:
For this article, I ran checks on myself using websites claiming to use AI for detailed people-finder purposes, but none of them returned any usable results. Instead, I found standard AI platforms to be far more accurate.
Here’s my prompt:
“Do intensive research on [NAME, Optional Career Keyword], and give me a massive report on everything you find. Find the needle in the haystack – something unexpected – so I can reach out with a surprising personal connection.”
While I’m slightly miffed that Claude called my career path a “strange” one, the reports it and ChatGPT produced were thorough. Most AI models won’t reveal personal information such as someone’s home address or contact details, but there is enough data available on career pathways, interests, public opinions (as ChatGPT called me, a “privacy pessimist”), hobbies, to create a detailed picture of who you are, your projects, work history, and potentially your location if you connect enough of the dots.
You might find that AI models resist generating reports on private individuals, however, so responses could be restricted to purely professional posts and histories.
How to clean your digital footprint ASAP
Armed with the above information, an interested party can create a detailed profile of you in mere minutes.
Here are some tips and tricks to reduce your digital footprint and make it more difficult for strangers to create a profile about you.
Tackle your social media accounts first. Most of us have at least one, and this is the easiest way someone can start learning about you, your habits, and your whereabouts.
- X (formerly Twitter): X hides its settings panel, but you can find it by clicking the “… More” button to access settings and privacy. Navigate to “Privacy and safety” to tighten settings, including protecting your posts — which restricts who can see them — and visit “Your posts.” Make sure that adding location data to your posts is disabled.
- Bluesky: Visit Settings > Privacy and Security and enable “Ask apps and sites not to show my account to logged-out users. You can also visit Content and Media to change who can interact with your posts.
- Instagram: If you’re under 18, your account will be private by default, meaning only users you approve can see your content, and nothing is public. You can also choose to make your account private by visiting Settings > Account Privacy.
- TikTok: Go to Settings > General > Privacy. As with Instagram, you can make your account private and block accounts if needed.
- LinkedIn: To tighten up public security and mask your information, visit your account settings. Explore the “visibility” section to choose who can see what, or “account preferences” to hibernate or delete your account.
Next, use Google’s Results About You tool. It’s easy and quick, and it lets you see what Google search results might come up if someone searches for you.
First, add any names that someone might use to find you on Google, like a maiden name or nickname. You will then need to provide at least one of the following: a home address, phone number, or email address.
The first check will take around six hours, but you don’t need to sit and wait around for them — you can opt to receive your results by email or via the Google app if any results are found about you. You can also set the service to automatically notify you of any new results or links.
If you find something that you believe shouldn’t be online, such as a web page that reveals personal, sensitive information about you, you can send a request to Google to have the link removed from its search engine results.
Although dealing with social media profiles and search engines should cover most bases, we can’t forget about a source of your private data which, while legal, would allow strangers to create a detailed profile on you: data brokers.
Data brokers are organizations that profit from consumer data. Information is gathered from sources including public records, court filings, third-party marketers, social media, and online trackers to create extensive profiles on individuals. While one record alone might not reveal much, when data brokers stitch together various datasets, they end up with a dossier on your name, address, contact details, work history, family members, and more.
Also: I tried to wipe my digital footprint without paying for a data removal service
You can choose to deal with data brokers directly, but note that it’s a very time-consuming process you’ll have to repeat, since there’s nothing stopping these organizations from reacquiring your data and adding it back to their databases. Some companies do have opt-out systems, but you would then have to trust them to keep their word.
Instead, we recommend signing up for a data broker removal service that will send automated or custom requests to remove your data on your behalf. Based on our testing, our current pick for the best data broker removal service is Incogni.
Bonus step: Have I Been Pwned?
It’s highly unlikely that a potential employer or landlord will check Troy Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned website, but it’s something you should consider doing to clean up your digital footprint.
Check your email on Have I Been Pwned for breach exposure. It’s free, and all you need to do is type in your email address and click “check.”
The search engine will then display how many data breaches your email address has been linked to. Scroll down for a timeline of when the data breaches occurred, what personal information was leaked, and what organizations were involved.
While you won’t be able to see exact records, the timeline will give you an idea of which of your personal data could be exposed. At the very least, you should change the passwords for compromised accounts and consider deleting them entirely if you no longer use them.
You can also sign up for free notifications, so you will know straight away if your email appears in a new data breach.
