Patent ID: 8489593

Claim:
A computer-readable memory storing code that when executed causes a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing a search for publicly-available sensitive information of an individual on an internet, the publicly-available sensitive information comprising a plurality of items of personal information associated with the individual, the plurality of items of personal information comprising at least a first item of personal information associated with the individual, a second item of personal information associated with the individual, and a third item of personal information associated with the individual, wherein the plurality of items of personal information include at least three items selected from a group consisting of a name, an email address, a telephone number, a street address, and a social security number; obtaining results of the search for publicly-available sensitive information comprising a list of documents containing at least one of the plurality of items of personal information; assigning an individual score for each of the plurality of items of personal information from the results, the individual score for a particular item of personal information being based on a number of occurrences within the results which contain the particular item of personal information; assigning combinatorial scores for particular combinations of items of personal information from the results, wherein a particular combination of items contained within a single document listed in the results is assigned a greater combinational score than the particular combination of items being contained collectively across multiple documents listed in the results having a common link with one another, wherein the common link is one of the items of personal information being contained in the multiple documents; and determining a level of security risk that exists to the individual based on the publicly-available sensitive information of the individual that was obtained from the results of the search, the level of security risk indicated from a plurality of different levels of security risks based on the individual score and the combinatorial scores assigned to the results of the search, wherein an increasing number of occurrences of items of personal information in the results increases the level of security risk, wherein the level of security risk comprises a member from a group consisting of: a level of risk for identity theft, a level of risk for a privacy breach, and a level of risk for receiving spam.