Three-quarters of members of the House of Representatives have had their personal information exposed online, according to a survey

According to a survey conducted by Incogni, a data deletion service, 75% of congressmen have their personal data exposed on personals search sites (PSS), with home addresses, phone numbers, and even contact information for relatives freely available In other words, home addresses, phone numbers, and even contact information for relatives are freely available

Each state in the US has legislators whose data is publicly available through PSS, but there are layers within Congress where data is more likely to be made public

According to Incogni's research, the legislators most at risk of having their data leaked are male Republican legislators Nearly 80% of Republican members of Congress are found in PSS and have had their personal information leaked Female Republicans are even less likely, with 62% having their data exposed For male Democrats, 74% have had their data exposed in the PSS

This puts these representatives at particular risk from both cybersecurity and real world threats It also has the potential to damage their reputations, especially since members of government, by the nature of their jobs, should be more careful about security and privacy

Representatives from Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, and Utah had a 75% or greater chance of having their data compromised by PSS, while Connecticut, New York, Indiana, Minnesota, Washington State, Representatives from Arizona and South Carolina had the lowest probability of having their data leaked Fewer than 60% of Congressmen from these states had their personal information posted on such sites

For more information on the study, see Incogni's blog post

People search sites are specialized data brokers that collect, store, and sell personal information In many cases, people are unaware that their data is available on PSS, which is especially problematic given that PSS collect and sell data such as real estate records, home addresses, and phone numbers

The data that PSS collects and sells can be harmful if misused, whether through harassment or targeted cyber attacks such as phishing campaigns This is especially true of the recent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and the violent threats against Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris

Darius Berejevas, data privacy expert and head of Incogni, said of the investigation: “Rarely has the safety of US lawmakers felt so insecure, and how readily available their personal data is It was frightening to reveal [This is a massive oversight that exposes members of Congress to security risks and needs to be addressed immediately

“This is not an issue that affects only high-profile politicians Millions of Americans could be found on name search sites, and their data could be misused by fraudsters and identity thieves or sold to unknown entities for purposes they did not consent to

This is not the first time the government has been cited for cybersecurity and data hygiene deficiencies Indeed, in May of this year, an investigation by the creators of Proton, one of the best VPN services, revealed that almost 80% of sitting UK MPs at that time had had their personal information leaked online Clearly, governments around the world need to pay more attention