Can I Be Pwned is a privacy awareness website.
It is a reminder that regardless of which services you choose to provide your personal data, there is always some risk of a data breach.
Pwned is a term derived from Internet culture meaning defeated. Someone who is pwned has been beaten in a game, or compromised in a data breach.
The simple answer is your data is always likely to be compromised in a data breach.
The information you enter has no effect on the privacy suggestions displayed here. It is not even required. You can verify this by disconnecting from the Internet and clicking the 'Pwned?' button.
If you're wondering why there's a still a text box asking for your email or phone - good! Staying vigilant about the data your provide to the services you use is a fantastic way to preserve your privacy.
The design is a parody of another website. See Why does this look suspiciously like Have I Been Pwned (haveibeenpwned.com)? for more details.
You can take steps to reduce your data breach exposure. You can reduce the risk of exposure by reducing and removing data about you that is not required. You can reduce the impact of exposure by making it more difficult for breached data to be used against you, including by not re-using passwords.
You can find more specific tips by clicking the 'Pwned?' button on the home page.
Can I Be Pwned is a Practical Data Privacy (practicaldp.com) project, created by privacy researcher Blair Hudson.
Practical Data Privacy is an online privacy advocacy community started by Blair Hudson in early 2022. The community brings together advocates, experts and officers with a focus on using technology to improve the state of data privacy globally.
You can join the Practical Data Privacy Slack for free access to the privacy newsroom, helpdesk and network.
This website is inspired by the incredible Have I Been Pwned (haveibeenpwned.com), created by renowned security researcher Troy Hunt.
You might even consider it a parody.
Have I Been Pwned (haveibeenpwned.com) is a free-to-use website that allows users to discover if their personal data has been identified ("pwned") in a data breach, created by renowned security researcher Troy Hunt.
You can read more about Have I Been Pwned and data breaches in the FAQ.