Personal data exposure quiz: how easy are you to findTwelve questions, a rough exposure score and a short to-do list with the most useful step first.
Twelve questions
Answers stay on this page0 of 12 answered. Your result appears when all twelve are done.
It is hard to judge how much of your life a stranger could piece together in an afternoon. This quiz does not look anything up. It asks about the things that usually put a person's details within reach (property records, voter files, old addresses, reused passwords) and turns your answers into a score and a list of next steps.
Taking the quiz
Answer all twelve questions above. Most are Yes or No. Three offer a third choice: "Not sure" for the breach notice and two-step sign-in questions, and, for the people-search question, whether you have checked and found listings, checked and found nothing, or never checked. A counter shows how many you have answered, and the result appears once all twelve are done.
The result gives you a band (Low, Moderate or High exposure) with a percentage, a bar, one sentence on what it means, and a list headed "What to do, in order". Each step links to the guide or checklist that covers it. Start over clears your answers, and Print the list sends the result to your printer.
How the score adds up
Each answer is worth 0 to 3 points:
| Points | Answers |
|---|---|
| 3 | Owning, buying or selling a home in your name in the last ten years; reusing passwords; no two-step sign-in on your main email; finding yourself on people-search sites |
| 2 | Registered to vote at your current address; moved in the last five years; a public profile showing your name with your city or employer; a listed or widely shared phone number; a professional license or registered business; a breach notice in the last three years; sweepstakes, warranty or loyalty forms with your real address; never having checked people-search sites; not sure about two-step |
| 1 | One email address for everything; not sure about a breach notice |
| 0 | Every other answer |
The most you can score is 27. Your points are divided by 27 and rounded to a percentage. Below 30 percent (0 to 7 points) is Low, 30 to 59 percent (8 to 16 points) is Moderate, and 60 percent or more (17 points and up) is High.
The weights are our judgment of how often each item feeds people-search listings, scam calls and account takeovers, based on the patterns our guides describe. They are not a statistical model. For the background, our piece on what a data broker knows about you covers where listings come from.
Every answer that adds points brings a step with it. The steps are sorted by points, heaviest first, and steps with equal points stay in question order. That is why password reuse and home ownership tend to lead the list and the one-email question tends to close it.
A sample result
Take a made-up renter. She does not own a home (0), is registered to vote at her address (2), moved two years ago (2) and has a public work profile that shows her city (2). Her phone is not listed (0), she has no license or business (0), and she is not sure about a breach notice (1). She reuses passwords (3), has two-step sign-in on her email (0), has never checked people-search sites (2), skips sweepstakes (0) and uses one email for everything (1).
That is 13 points out of 27, or 48 percent: Moderate. The sentence under the bar says enough is out there for a people-search listing or a convincing scam call, and that the first two steps do the most. Her seven steps come out in this order: switch to unique passwords from a password manager; check what her state releases from the voter file; work through the opt-out checklist with every address she has used; trim her public profile; start the opt-out guide; run the breach checklist; and keep a separate email address for sign-ups.
What the score leaves out
- It does not search for you. A Low score does not mean no site lists you. The only way to know is to look up your own name on the big people-search sites, which our opt-out guide walks through.
- The weights are the same for everyone. For someone avoiding an abusive former partner, a single listed address matters far more than any score suggests. Our piece on why your home address is public record covers the address confidentiality programs that exist for that situation.
- Rules vary by state. What a voter file or a property record shows depends on where you live.
- It covers the common sources only. Court records, vehicle records and photos posted by other people are outside its twelve questions.
Your answers stay on the page
The quiz runs in your browser. Your answers are held in the page while it is open and are never sent, logged or saved, not even in local storage. Reload or close the page and they are gone.
Questions
Why does owning a home count for so much?
Deeds, mortgages and property tax rolls are public in most of the country, and many county assessor sites can be searched by owner name. People-search sites collect those records, so a purchase in your own name often becomes the address on your listing.
Does answering "Not sure" hurt my score?
Partly. Not knowing whether two-step sign-in is on counts 2 of a possible 3 points, because you cannot rely on something you have not checked. Not sure about a breach notice counts 1 of 2. Finding out turns either into a clear answer.
Why are passwords in a quiz about exposure?
Because exposed details and weak accounts work together. A scammer who knows your address and birthday has a better story, and a reused password from an old breach can open your email, which resets everything else.
My result was Low. Can I skip the opt-outs?
A Low score means fewer of the usual sources apply to you, not that none do. It is still worth checking the largest people-search sites once.
Can I take it again later?
Yes. Press Start over, or reload the page. Retaking it after you have worked through a few steps is a simple way to see what has changed.