Are You Worried About Your Digital Footprint? Learn How to Control It

The world revolves around currency – something that everyone agrees to hold value. In the digital world, this currency is data. Personal data, business data, or browsing data. All of it is produced by people whenever they go online. It’s also known as a digital footprint.

And even though people are becoming more and more cautious when it comes to the security of their data (an increase in VPN popularity in only one proof of this), it seems that the question of digital footprint remains in the grey area.

Whether people like it or not, they leave traces of themselves and their online behavior. Sometimes it is intentional, like when you upload your resumé on LinkedIn or share photos of your weekend hike on Twitter. But some data isn’t always intended to be shared. For example, when you like a post or upload private photos to a cloud server.

Yet, it’s hard to control what goes out there, and it’s almost impossible to control the data that companies gather. When a person visits a website or adds items to their wishlist on an online shop all of this information is gathered by search engines, website owners, and advertising agencies who want to adapt to current user trends.

See how this then becomes a big problem? Marketing agencies and companies might use all that data to improve their services. But that doesn’t mean it isn't valuable to someone else with more sinister ideas in their mind. Cybercriminals are always working on nefarious ways to earn money and stealing data, believe it or not, is a way to achieve that.

Why Should Anyone Care About Their Digital Footprint?

It’s never a good thing to have personal and sensitive information floating around out there. But at the very least, people should know what information about them is out there. And how it can be used against them.

It’s hard to imagine the risk that your digital footprint poses without understanding the extent of what cybercriminals can do with the gathered information. Because why would anyone care that someone else was living it up with their friends at the bar last night, right?

Well, consider this: a lot of people are switching to cashless payment systems, and not just credit cards either. There are tons of alternative online paying methods like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. So criminals might not be interested in the drinks someone bought but rather how they paid for them.

Another prime example is when people use technology with real-world repercussions. For instance, a lot of users signed up for a family tracking app called Family Locator that lets them keep track of their kids and spouses. In 2018, the company who made the app realized that their database was unprotected and open to anyone who knew how to look. So any number of cybercriminals had unfettered access to these people’s real-time locations.

Of course, people who shared their data with the app aren’t responsible for the breach. But they still added extra information to their digital footprint, allowing criminals to know their families’ physical location.

These aren’t the only reasons why people would want to minimize their digital footprints. But they are prime examples of why having a big one can lead to a terrible outcome.

How a Digital Footprint Is Gathered and Used

Anyone who wants to see what their digital footprint looks like need only search for their name on a search engine. This isn’t their entire digital footprint, but only the top layer – as most of that data is locked away behind various databases. But it’s still a good indication of what it looks like to the general public.

Digital footprints include people’s personal info, like their demographics, political affiliations, or location. Most of this information is gathered using website cookies that track a person’s online sessions.

Companies use this gathered data to store people’s settings and login information along with their interests. In this way, the company can tailor its website or advertisements to the person’s preferences.

5 Ways to Reduce and Manage a Digital Footprint

There’s no real way to eliminate a digital footprint completely. Especially for non-technical people who don’t know any backdoor methods to scrub their info off the net. But, there are ways to reduce its size and make sure it doesn’t grow out of control.

Have a look at these five ways to reduce a digital footprint – but keep in mind that this is not a one-time thing. You will continue to go online where your information will be gathered. So make sure to repeat some of these steps every once in a while.

1. Discover and Delete

The first step to reducing a digital footprint is always discovering exactly what that footprint entails. Go through old accounts, apps, social media, and emails to discover where data is being stored. It’s very important to delete unnecessary data and close old accounts that aren’t being used anymore.

Also, use a search engine to see what data is freely available, including photos and tags posted by friends or family accounts. If there’s anything that needs to be taken down, then contact them and ask them to remove it.

2. Remove Data from Aggregators

There are many data aggregators out there that gather personal information about people from other databases. They’re commonly referred to as “people finding sites” and, while they’re not illegal, they do gather this information without people knowing.

Have a look at sites like Beenverified, Radaris, and Peoplefinder to see if they’ve gathered any information. They are legally bound to remove any information that a person wants them to remove so feel free to contact them. They may require personal identification first, but a proof of address should suffice.

3. Change Privacy Settings on Platforms and Apps

Change personal account settings on social media and apps to keep strangers out. This includes settings on apps that allow data to be shared with third parties. Only accept invites and communication from relatives, friends, and acquaintances on social media.

4. Keep Connections Private

There’s no way to be truly anonymous online unless you take very complicated steps to hide your identity. This isn’t feasible for everyone, but getting a VPN account is. By installing a virtual private network, you can get a fake IP address. This keeps cookies from being able to gather personally identifiable data about you.

5. Limit Sharing on Social Media

To stay safe, you need to limit how much outsiders can see about you on social media. Privacy settings are a part of that, but you should still watch what you share on social platforms. Especially on the ones where a public profile is mandatory, like LinkedIn or Twitter.

Setting out With a Smaller Footprint

A little bit of paranoia isn’t a bad thing – particularly when it comes to online threats. Stay vigilant about what you share online because before you know it, that information could become unremovable. As they say, once something’s on the internet, it’s there forever. This might not be 100% true for everything, but it’s always better to stay on the safe side than have to regret it later on.