How does my personal information become available online?

Sometimes this happens as a result of a hack or ransomware attack, either at the company where you work or from a company that has your private data – a bank, insurance company, healthcare provider, etc. But sometimes you unwittingly provide the means for companies to obtain your data by offering it to businesses in exchange for a discount or other types of benefits. For instance: you give your birthday and email address to a restaurant so they will send you a coupon for a free dessert on that day. If you pay for the meal with a credit card, they now have that information as well.

The restaurant may then trade the information to an info broker who fills in the missing pieces with information from other retailers, in exchange for money and/or the details they don’t have. Did you use that same email address or phone number with your doctor? Did you give the furniture delivery place your address and mobile number to update you on a delivery status? If so, now the information broker can put those pieces together. They will even tie that information to your social security number, since that is the ultimate identifier of who you are.