Question 1

What is a Privacy Risk Score?

Accepted Answer

Found front and center on the Exposure Dashboard, the Privacy Risk Score measures how dangerous your personal data exposures are today. This is determined by Privacy Bee scanning and monitoring sites across the internet, which identifies anywhere and everywhere your information is found, open, and available. A full scan is conducted once you set up your account (and regularly after that) to ensure the dashboard shows the latest updates.

The Privacy Risk Score is based on the number of exposures identified, the popularity and size of the sources, the amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) contained in each exposure, and a variety of other proprietary factors, all aimed at assessing how at-risk you are from an External Data Privacy standpoint. The higher the risk score, the easier it is for a cybercriminal or threat actor to find your information online and target you, your family members, or your business with an attack. Cyberattacks infused with exposed PII are significantly more effective than those without it, including phishing, smishing, vishing, ransomware, spoofing, and numerous other identity-based attacks.

To improve your Privacy Risk Score, you must remove your personal data from the sites that expose it today. The most effective way to do this is to upgrade to a license and enlist the Privacy Bee team of trusted professionals to manage the data deletion process on your behalf. Each deletion can take anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on th

Question 2

Can I Make Specific Deletion Requests?

Accepted Answer

Privacy Bee will do all that is lawfully possible to delete your information. Privacy Bee automatically begins with our list of 910+ Data Brokers and People Search Sites because we consider them an imminent threat to one's privacy and security. If you have a company that is a top concern, please send us the link, and we will try to prioritize the data removal request or offer guidance on how to trigger Privacy Bee to send a data removal request.

When you have those sites you find that you want to be moved up in priority or want your information removed from a site, please send in a request with the specific links or company name.

Some companies are not in our core site categories, and for those companies, you must actively request data deletions from them. This can include companies like Target, Macy's, and Netflix.

Question 3

Why Has My Risk Score Not Improved/Changed?

Accepted Answer

The Privacy Score on your dashboard can fluctuate or remain consistent throughout your time with us. It will never be zero, but we aim to lower your score as best as possible. Your score may increase as we add more Data Brokers to our database or as re-exposures occur and are identified for our team of privacy professionals to address.

It can also remain static for various reasons. One is that we find more vulnerabilities as we successfully remove information. It can also remain static if the data brokers or other sites from which we request information removal are incredibly difficult and prevent movement or progress for several months.

We have your back, and even if you see movement in your score that goes up or no movement at all, know we are never backing down from protecting your privacy.

Question 4

How Do I Use The DIY Guides?

Accepted Answer

Even without a Privacy Bee Essentials, Pro, or Signature License, we provide manual removal options for most sites we scan to let all our customers take their privacy into their own hands. This article will explain where you can find the removal guides for each site when they are available.

Looking at your dashboard, go to the left nav bar and select the Excruciating Detail page. Click on any blue share icon (tiny box with an arrow) to go to its company profile page. Enter the company name (or domain), and click on the company name to go to the DIY Guides and view the Scan Results, as seen in the screenshots below.

Excruciating Detail Page | | On this page, you can see the trust score the company has earned, a description of how safe they are, and the removal guide as you scroll down further. |

As you scroll down the page, you will find the complete guide to removing your information from the site you clicked on! It has a series of steps to guide you through the process. If available, each website will have a guide for its removal process.

Scan Results & DIY Guide

| Every guide wi

Question 5

Can I Make Deletions Myself Or Is It All Hands Off?

Accepted Answer

Whether you have a Pro or Free Account, you always have the option to take removals into your own hands if you would like, using our complimentary Data Deletion Guides, which can be accessed for each exposure found on your dashboard. With a Free Account, we provide a scan to find your exposures, but the power to remove them lies in your hands. When you upgrade to a Pro Account, we handle the removal process for you! However, you still have the power to take the deletion process into your own hands, whether you have a Free or Pro Account.

When you upgrade, you must complete your profile so we can pinpoint your online exposures. Please consider signing the Limited Power of Attorney (LPoA) so we can let companies know that we're your Authorized Agent acting on your behalf for data removal requests. You can retract the Limited Power of Attorney (LPoA) anytime. After your profile is completed, we can take on the deletion process and begin moving them from "Pending" to "Requested" and then into "Closed" as we complete the deletions. Choose one still in the "Pending" section to do your deletions, scroll to the deletion guide, and follow the steps!

If you have a Pro Account, you can do more of the things you love while Privacy Bee does the heavy lifting for you!

Question 6

How Does the Scanning Process Work?

Accepted Answer

Understanding every part of the scanning process can seem intimidating, but we are here to walk you through every step so you can know precisely how we are finding your information and working to keep it safe.

The information below applies to all our Licenses or a Free Account, though some aspects (like the removal requests process) can only be found in a Pro Account.

When you first sign up, and as we continue scanning for your information, all of these exposures appear in what we call the "Pending" section. When an exposure is "Pending", our scans have found it, but action has yet to be taken. Next, we have to determine the best method to send a data removal request because it's different for every site. If you have a Free Account, then this is where you will find the sites to begin your manual removal process using our DIY guides.

After we begin processing the "Pending" exposures, we will move them to the "Requested" category as we work to send in removal requests. The time they stay in the "Requested" category will vary depending on the site.

The "Not Found" section on the exposures dashboard shows that we found information that didn't fully match what you gave us, or that no information was found on you. These sites get rescanned as time goes on, but if your information appears in "Not Found," then we cannot locate it on that site.

Finally, the "Closed" section can mean something different for each site. Still, generally speaking, closed means that the site has acc

Frequently Read Articles

Browse All Categories