Identifiable Information From More Than 70 Percent of Doctors Exposed Online

A recent report found that more than 71 percent of medical doctors have had their information exposed on at least one people search site.

Healthcare workers continue to experience a high level of violence, and people search sites may exacerbate the issue, according to an Incogni report, Protected: Nearly 3 Out of 4 Studied Doctors Potentially Exposed on People Search Sites.  

The report focused on 768 medical doctors who work or worked in some of the largest hospitals in the United States. Researchers checked if those doctors’ personal information had been exposed on people search sites—data brokers specializing in the aggregation and monetization of personally identifiable information (PII). Out of all those doctors, only 3 percent had their PII protected well enough to be forcibly excluded from the study because researchers couldn’t even find basic information for them.

The study found that in general, the younger a doctor is, the less likely his or her PII will have been exposed, “with 66 percent of millennials, 77 percent of baby boomers, and 83 percent of the older generations being exposed,” Incogni said.

The most common information found on people search sites included email addresses, phone numbers, relatives, spouses, current addresses, and properties and assets. Some sites claimed to have information regarding legal judgments, criminal records, education and occupation histories, social media profiles, and photos.

“It’s important to emphasize that many of the data points presented above are available to anyone, without payment. More information, often very sensitive, may be available behind a paywall. Trial memberships are often available for as little [as] $1,” Incogni said.  

The report also found that while 39.7 percent of doctors were exposed on five or more people search sites, 26 percent were exposed on 10 or more sites.

“Having personal information available on one site can be damaging enough, but the more places such information is available, the higher the risk of it being found,” Incogni said.

In two states—Nevada and New Mexico—100 percent of the investigated medical professionals were found to have their PII exposed on at least one people search site. New York ranked as the third-worst, with 93 percent of its department heads having been exposed. By comparison, Alaska, Illinois, and Oklahoma were the states where the fewest number of medical professionals were exposed: 43 percent, 46 percent, and 50 percent, respectively.

The report determined that the percentage of hospital department heads exposed on these sites was concerning, presenting a wider impact on all medical professionals’ safety at a time when workplace violence in healthcare settings appears to have increased.

“Data brokers (especially people search sites) exacerbate the dangers facing medical professionals by making comprehensive dossiers of personal information available to virtually anyone motivated enough to seek them out,” the report concluded.