Your digital footprint is the trail you leave behind whenever you use the internet. Sure, your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram profiles qualify as a digital footprint, but they’re ones you’re mostly aware of.
It’s concerning when you’re unaware of the trail you’re leaving and the information and data involved. Your digital footprint can have severe implications, even if it feels insignificant.
Why It Matters
While leaving behind your browsing habits and history, along with personal information you share on social media, might not necessarily start alarm bells in your head, your digital footprint can turn on you in a myriad of chilling ways…
You’re Prone to Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks
To lay down the groundwork: a phishing attack is when the attacker tricks you into handing over sensitive information, usually through emails and fake webpages that closely mimic ones you trust.
Social engineering attacks use the previous methods along with phone calls and direct messaging to psychologically manipulate you into giving your information.
You’re probably used to phishing emails containing promises of inherited wealth or asking you to update your account information of a bank account you don’t have. Those are easy to detect and laugh at.
However, the risk grows the more an attacker knows about you. Then, they’d be able to contact you about services and websites you use. Maybe even use your full name to appear authentic. These targeted attacks are much harder to detect for most people, and you only need to be fooled once.
Lack of Privacy
The United Nations declared privacy as a fundamental human right over 50 years ago. Yet nowadays, it’s hard to keep even a sliver of privacy.
In simple words, think about the lack of privacy like having a private conversation with a friend on a public forum or message board instead of your messaging app. There are countless disadvantages to not having proper privacy, from lack of authenticity to lacking be anonymity when needed because everything about you is out in the open.
Future Employment Issues
In the US, 96 percent of employers perform at least one background check on job candidates before hiring. While a criminal record might be the first thing that comes to mind, thinking you have nothing to hide, the problem goes much deeper.
With social media websites around for nearly 20 years, your digital footprint could extend to when you were a young teenager. Due to the countless services that perform in-depth background checks for companies, your employer could end up seeing your old social media posts where you might have said something rude or inappropriate.
Incidents like this can distort your employer’s first impression of you and even cost you the job.
Prone to Stalking
Without the internet and social media, for someone to stalk you, they’d have to drop everything and dedicate all of their time to following you around. Besides, it’s easier to notice and report this type of stalking.
Nowadays, a person from the other side of the world can know private details about your life with the push of a button. From who your family and friends are, to your hobbies, how you spend your time, where you work or go to school, and—if you’re not careful—where you live.
Easy to Impersonate
Different from identity theft or fraud, impersonation can directly affect your social life and reputation. If you have tons of personal images and frequently share personal information about yourself, it’s easy for someone to impersonate you online.
That is especially true on social media platforms that don’t need much substance, like Twitter. All they need are a dozen or so selfies of you, some basic information about you, as well as a sample of how you write from browsing through your social media.
So… Go Offline?
No. Going offline is overkill. There are countless benefits to social media and the internet. You need to be smarter in terms of what information you share with which websites and apps.
Minimizing your digital footprint doesn’t have to be hard. You only need to implement small changes in your online habits, and you’re instantly safer than most internet users.
The Right to Be Forgotten
The right to be forgotten is the right to have all personal information about you erased permanently from the internet. This concept is catching interest worldwide and will most likely become a global phenomenon in the near future.
While it’s currently only applicable in the European Union and a handful of other countries, you can take advantage of it when using European websites or using a VPN that disguises your IP into a European one.
Use Online Personas
Unless you’re registering for an official service that requires proof of identity, you should make the most of online personas. Having a pseudonym for your social media profiles, you can still connect and keep in touch with family and friends, but acquaintances and strangers won’t be able to identify you.
It also comes in handy if your information gets involved in a data leak; with everything falsified, you’ll remain mostly anonymous. It’ll also ensure your other accounts with your real name aren’t linked to the leaked one, providing a higher level of security for them.
Use Temporary Credentials
Using disposable or temporary credentials might not be ideal for everything as you won’t be able to receive important notifications or retrieve your password if you lose it. But you can effectively use them for websites or services you’d only use once or twice. It’s also ideal to receive files via email without giving your main address away.
Delete Old Accounts
Keep tabs on all your accounts, even those you no longer use. For those, it’s safer to go ahead and delete them even if it’s tempting to simply forget about them. The company could change its privacy policy any day and give away or sell your data.
Not to mention, the more databases have your personal information, such as email address, phone number, and password, the more likely they are to be in a breach or leak that exposes them.
In case you were wondering, this is how many annoying spam emailers and callers get your contact info.
Falsify Your Information
If you’re an avid user of the internet, you most likely have come across a website that makes it near impossible to delete your account. If the website says they’d keep your data for “when you come back” or have shady a privacy policy, it’s best to falsify all of your information. Use disposable credentials if you have any doubts that they allow you to delete your account.
Doing this will only take five minutes and it’s smarter than receiving 13 spam emails a day.
Privacy Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult
Maintaining a sense of privacy doesn’t necessarily mean ditching all technology and going to live in the woods. Practicing proper internet hygiene is only a few steps away, but the payoff is worth it in the long run.
Image Credit: Denny Abdurahman/Unsplash
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