A digital footprint, also known as a digital shadow or electronic footprint, is the trail of data you leave behind while using the internet. This includes the websites you visit, the emails you send, and any information you submit online. Your digital footprint can be used to trace your activities and devices on the internet. It’s created in two ways: actively, when you intentionally share information, and passively, when data is collected without your direct input.
What is a digital footprint?
Your digital footprint is the cumulative record of your online activities. Consider the routine actions you perform daily: posting on social media, making purchases, activating accounts, registering for newsletters, checking the weather, completing surveys, or sharing articles.
Every one of these actions leaves a digital trail, including your IP address and any personal information you’ve shared online. (An IP address is a unique series of numbers assigned to each internet-connected device. It can indicate the city, area code, or ZIP code from where you’re accessing the internet, but it doesn’t reveal your name, mailing address, or phone number.) This data can be tracked and analyzed by marketers, credit card issuers, advertisers, law enforcement agencies, and other organizations to learn about your habits and create a customized profile.
In essence, your digital footprint is akin to the footprints you leave in freshly fallen snow. Others can see where you’ve been. While snow footprints eventually disappear, digital footprints can be permanent.
How to protect your digital footprint?
1. Limit your online accounts
In today’s digital age, having too many online accounts can significantly increase your digital footprint. However, it’s easy to minimize it by deleting or deactivating accounts you no longer use. Ask yourself—do you really need multiple email accounts? And what about that account you created with an online retailer three years ago but haven’t used since?
Be mindful when creating new accounts as well. Whenever possible, opt for guest checkout when shopping online, unless you intend to become a regular customer. Reduce your digital clutter and protect your online presence with these simple steps!
2. Use tighter privacy settings
Service providers for social media, e-commerce, email, search engines, web browsers, online conferencing, and more often offer users the ability to control the privacy settings of their accounts. Opting for more restrictive settings can help minimize your digital footprint. The National Cybersecurity Alliance offers direct links to manage privacy settings for many popular sites.
Be mindful that enhancing your security may impact some site functionalities or lead to other drawbacks. For instance, deleting your search history might make future searches less convenient. Similarly, blocking pop-up ads could prevent you from seeing offers you might find valuable. While the increased privacy is often worth these trade-offs, it’s important to understand the potential implications before making any changes.
You can also enhance your privacy by using a VPN such as VeePN. If you have a product from a good VPN provider, you can encrypt all your data and hide it from all strangers. Additionally, VeePN can hide your real location, and you choose for yourself which region you want to change your geolocation to. VPN can be used as an additional or primary privacy protection tool.
3. Phone settings
Ensuring your privacy settings are up-to-date is crucial, particularly after software updates and new app installations. Make it a routine to review the permissions apps request for accessing your camera, photos, microphone, location, and contacts. Ask yourself: Do my settings allow others to find me via email or phone number? For iPhone users, take advantage of the latest features like iCloud Advanced Data Protection to enhance your security.
4. Search for yourself
Searching for yourself online might feel a bit self-indulgent, but it’s actually a smart way to understand what information is publicly accessible about you. Use various search engines and review the initial pages of results thoroughly.
You might be astonished by what you discover. Sometimes, the findings can be quite unsettling. If you encounter sensitive data that you’d prefer to keep private, or if you see any incorrect, misleading, or inappropriate information, reach out to the site administrator to ask for its removal.
5. Deactivate old email accounts
Over the years, the landscape of email usage has changed significantly, leading to many accounts being abandoned and left inactive. These dormant accounts often contain a wealth of personal details and sensitive information within old messages. When these accounts are not actively monitored, it becomes challenging to detect if they have been compromised. To mitigate this security risk, it is advisable to delete any unused email accounts entirely.
6. Disable location tracking
Location tracking enhances your online searches by offering recommendations for businesses near your current location. Despite its convenience, continuous location tracking poses significant privacy risks. To safeguard your privacy, remain vigilant about which apps and services are granted access to your location information and ensure that tracking is restricted to periods when you are actively using the service.
7. Unsubscribe from mailing lists
In the course of online browsing or shopping, it’s common to subscribe to various mailing lists, often to receive the latest discounts and promotional offers. However, these subscriptions can accumulate quickly, leading to an overwhelming number of mailing lists. Consequently, many individuals find their inboxes cluttered with newsletters and advertisements they rarely read. To minimize your digital footprint and limit the number of third parties with access to your personal information, it’s advisable to unsubscribe from any extraneous mailing lists that are not essential.
8. Create strong passwords
To ensure your online security, it’s crucial to use robust and varied passwords, updating them regularly. A strong password is one that’s unique and hard to predict. This means it should be a mix of lower-case and upper-case letters, numbers, and special symbols. The longer your password, the harder it is to crack—experts now recommend using passwords that are at least 14 characters long to meet security standards.
Moreover, many organizations are now implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add an extra layer of protection. For convenience and security, consider using a password manager app to generate, remember, and store your passwords safely.
Conclusion
When it comes to digital security, the adage “better safe than sorry” rings truer than ever. Though we can’t promise complete immunity, scrutinizing your digital footprint is a crucial investment in your cybersecurity strategy. Now is the ideal moment to prioritize your digital safety.
Featured image credit: Rochak Shukla/Freepik
