| Firmographics | Digital Risk Exposure |
| Industry: Food Services Size: Hundreds of thousands Executives Enrolled: 14 Employees Enrolled: 0 | VanishID discovered 893 breaches and 48 cleartext credentials in the span of three months. VanishID removed 32,926 pieces of exposed PII over nine months. |
Executive Summary
A leading food services company partnered with VanishID to address a critical cybersecurity vulnerability: the massive exposure of personal identifiable information (PII) of their executives and employees.
This exposed personal data was fueling social engineering attacks, online harassment, and physical threats against executives and their families. The company’s newly appointed CEO had previously been protected by VanishID, along with their family, at their prior organization. That firsthand experience with the service made VanishID the clear choice when establishing executive protection at their new company.
Within three months, VanishID removed over 14,386 pieces of exposed PII across 14 executives and reduced digital risk across enrolled users by 37%. This dramatic reduction in the company’s human attack surface has significantly strengthened their overall security posture against data-driven threats
The Challenge: A Visible Digital Footprint
As a prominent player in the food services sector, the company faced unique security challenges. Activist campaigns and online harassment had escalated against leadership, intensified by news coverage surrounding the CEO transition. As a highly visible consumer brand with thousands of public-facing locations, executives faced elevated exposure to coordinated digital and physical threats.Initial scans revealed alarming exposure levels:
- A total of 32,926 pieces of PII were removed in a 9 month span across enrolled users, which included 14 executives.
- The largest category of removed exposed PII was family, with 9,824 pieces of information. 5,811 pieces of exposed PII relating to contact information were removed.
- 2,439 breaches and 131 cleartext credentials were discovered across enrolled users in nine months.
This extensive digital exposure created a perfect environment for sophisticated social engineering attacks, with personal data readily available to craft convincing phishing attempts, impersonation scams, and targeted attacks against key decision-makers.
The Solution: Continuous PII Removal
VanishID implemented its automated solution, requiring minimal effort from the food service company’s security team. The implementation included:
- Enterprise-Wide Protection: Enrolling 14 executives in VanishID’s continuous PII removal service
- User Reconciliation: Coordinating with the healthcare company to update enrolled user lists and establish ongoing provisioning and de-provisioning processes
- Executive Family Focus: Launching a focused effort to increase family member enrollment, recognizing that executives’ family members often represent an overlooked vulnerability
- Continuous Monitoring and Removal: Deploying automated scanning and removal technology to identify and eliminate PII from data broker sites continuously
The simplicity of implementation was a key advantage—VanishID required only employee names and work emails to begin the protection process, with initial results appearing within 24-48 hours.
Powerful Results: Measurable Risk Reduction
The impact of VanishID’s protection was substantial and measurable:
Protection Results:
- 37% reduction in overall digital risk
- 32,926 pieces of PII removed
- 2,439 breaches discovered
- 131 cleartext credentials discovered
Removal of numerous exposed profiles:
- 9,800+ pieces of family PII
- 5,300+ pieces of network PII
- 5,800+ pieces of contact information
- 5,300+ pieces of background PII
Initial Digital Risk Scores
Current Digital Risk Scores
Understanding Risk Measurement and Mitigation
In the charts above, every dot is an employee. The X axis shows the target’s overall value, and the Y axis shows the target’s accessibility.
Access: The Access score measures how accessible a person appears to threat actors outside your perimeter. Scoring includes overall vitals, biographics, openness, and activity metrics.
Higher Access scores = relatively easier for attackers to research, approach, and communicate with.
Value: The Value score measures how attractive a target appears from an attacker’s perspective. Scoring includes overall security, privileges, network, and exposure.
High Value scores = most worthwhile for attackers to target, directly or through impersonation.
Beyond Technical Protection: Business Impact
The implementation of VanishID’s solution delivered several key business benefits:
- Reduced Social Engineering Success Rates: By removing the personal information that fuels targeted attacks, the company experienced fewer successful social engineering attempts.
- Enhanced Security Posture: The dramatic reduction in exposed PII strengthened the company’s overall defense against human-targeted attacks—often the starting point for more severe security breaches.
- Operational Efficiency: Instead of dedicating internal resources to remove personal information manually, the automated solution handled this task continuously, allowing the security team to focus on other priorities.
- Family Protection: The expanded protection to executive family members closed a significant vulnerability gap, as family members are often targeted as indirect entry points to company systems.
Looking Forward: Building on Success
Strong results have paved the way for broader adoption. Protection has expanded beyond the origins executive cohort to include additional leadership levels, and VanishID enrollment is now a standard part of executive onboarding. The response has been highly favorable—executives found the Privacy Briefings particularly valuable, and the security team has welcomed the turnkey managed service model.
