You are leaving a trail of personal information behind you whenever you engage in any activity involving the Internet. Things like internet purchases, email addresses, and login credentials can all be considered part of your digital footprint. Some components of your digital footprint might be useful, such as the preserved browsing history on a website or the cookies that enable your preferred e-commerce website to offer things to you. Other aspects of your digital footprint, however, can be harmful.
Know What You Are Putting Online
Every time you open a website, use an app, post on social media or send an email, you leave a trail of data behind. This information is known as your digital footprint and if it ends up in the wrong hands, you could be at risk for identity theft and fraud.
Your active digital footprint is made up of the content you share online, such as posts on social media and comments on news articles. Passive data, which includes everything from your IP address to where you click on a website, can also be used to track your online activities.
These data points paint a picture of who you are and can be used by everyone from marketers to potential employers or admissions officers. However, it can also be used by cybercriminals who are looking for your personal information to access your online accounts and steal money or commit other illegal activities.
Change Your Passwords Regularly
Every time you use the internet, you leave behind a trail of information that paints a picture of who you are. If this digital footprint gets into the wrong hands, it can lead to identity theft and fraud.
The most effective way to protect your digital footprint is by changing your passwords regularly. While this may be inconvenient, it will help to prevent hackers from gaining access to your accounts and stealing your personal information.
Many people choose to change their passwords every three months or so. Unfortunately, this can make it easy for a cybercriminal to guess your passwords and gain access to your accounts. It is also important to avoid using personal information as passwords, including your family names, pets’ names, birthdays, or anniversaries. Instead, try to create a password that uses upper and lower-case letters, digits, and symbols or unrelated words.
Delete Old Social Media Accounts
Whether you want to boost your cybersecurity or simply clean up your online footprint, it is possible to reduce the data available about you. Start by looking yourself up online and checking out what results appear. If you see something that could be damaging, take steps to correct it. You can also use search engines to find any accounts you no longer use and delete them, which will lessen your digital footprint.
Dormant online accounts are one of the biggest sources of personal information on the internet and they can be a target for hackers. It’s important to check the privacy policies of the services you use before requesting removal or deactivating an account.
Using Redact, an app that offers to wipe out social media and other accounts, can help reduce your digital footprint by mass-deleting posts, images, files and messages. The service currently supports Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Imgur and GitHub and will soon be expanding to Telegram, VK Messenger and Vimeo.
Change Your Email Address
It can be a chore to change your email address. But, if you do it correctly, you can leave no trace behind. First, make a list of every account you had under the old email. This can include banks, credit card accounts, health care providers, loyalty accounts and more. Next, get in touch with those businesses or accounts to let them know that you are changing your email address. This step can be time-consuming if you don’t use a password manager.
Once you have all the important accounts updated with your new email address, set up an auto-reply on your old account. This message will notify anyone who sent you emails that you have a new email address. This is also a good way to avoid being caught off guard when your old email account gets hacked. This will help prevent scammers from using your email to access any of your other online accounts. Try Aura’s #1-rated identity theft protection free for 14 days!
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