Personal descriptions leaked: what it means and what to do
Risk level: medium. Can you change it: yes. Found in 3 breaches in this directory.
What this data is
The free text you wrote about yourself on a profile, such as a dating bio, forum signature or about me section. It can include hobbies, job, location, family and what you are looking for.
The risk on its own
Free text is unpredictable, which is the problem. One person writes two words, another writes their suburb, job, children's ages and a painful divorce story. On private or adult services, a bio written for a small audience can be deeply embarrassing when read out of context.
The risk combined with other data
With your name and photo, a personal description is a script for a romance or social engineering scammer who wants to mirror your interests. It also lets people match an anonymous profile to your real identity through distinctive details. Descriptions on dating or adult sites can become extortion material when tied to a real email address.
How criminals use it
A romance scammer reads your bio and presents themselves as a perfect match for every interest you listed.
A distinctive phrase from your bio is searched online and connects your anonymous profile to your social media.
An extortion email quotes your adult site bio and threatens to send it to your employer or family.
Details such as your suburb, gym or dog's name are used to answer security questions or find you in person.
What to do now
Read what you wrote on the breached service and note anything that identifies you, your location or your family.
Edit or delete bios on other services that repeat the same wording, since identical text links accounts.
Change any security answer that appears in your description, such as a pet's name.
Do not pay extortion demands. Keep the messages, report them to police and block the sender.
Delete dormant profiles on dating and community sites so they cannot leak again.
Frequently asked questions
My bio was public anyway. Does the leak matter?
Less than private fields, but the leak ties that text to your email address and other account data, which is not public.
I am getting threats about my dating profile. What should I do?
Do not pay or reply. Save the messages, report them to police and the platform, and tighten privacy on your social media.
Should I stop writing personal bios?
Keep them vaguer. Leave out your suburb, employer, children and anything you use as a security answer.
Breaches that exposed this data
Mate1.com: 2016-02-29, 27M accounts, Astrological signs, Dates of birth, Drinking habits, Drug habits, Education levels, Email addresses
Beautiful People: 2015-11-11, 1.1M accounts, Beauty ratings, Car ownership statuses, Dates of birth, Drinking habits, Education levels, Email addresses
MyFHA: 2015-02-18, 973K accounts, Credit status information, Email addresses, Income levels, IP addresses, Loan information, Names
Breach data sourced from Have I Been Pwned, used under CC BY 4.0. Additional breach metadata provided by XposedOrNot. DataExposed is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.