How To Protect Yourself Online

How to Prevent Your Digital Footprint from Getting on the Dark Web

Sometimes malicious actors are successful in harvesting your data and selling it for a good price on the Dark Web. If this is happening, you should be informed and act on it  fast.

When big companies get breached, it takes them a few months to assess the damage and then let you know your data was affected. With a tool like Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, you get an instant alert when your data gets leaked or fake online profiles use your identity. It helps you keep track of your digital footprint and monitors several email addresses, credit card, social security number and accounts.

Based on these alerts, you can limit the damage by changing your password, calling the bank to freeze your card or reporting impersonators.

How to Delete Your Digital Footprint

If you want to leave the web entirely, it is going to be a complicated undertaking. You can delete some of your digital footprint (e.g. social media accounts) but there are parts of it you can never erase (e.g. government records).

But your ever-growing digital shadow does not have to be that distressing. Constantly purging your accounts, emails, messages, and other types of digital information gives you more control and makes for a more manageable online presence.

Remember that malicious hackers will use old information they find online about you, piecing it together with your active digital footprint to find a vulnerability. That is why sometimes you may want to completely purge an online account before deleting it, to prevent the company from storing copies of your data.

The best way to delete your digital footprint is to clean it up, one account and device at a time

mangeing digital-footprint/

How to Protect Your Digital Footprint

If you are wondering how to curate your digital persona to avoid using the data that is already public, try incorporating the recommendations below into your routine

Use a separate email address for your main accounts and do not use it to sign up for other products and services to minimize exposureHave a secondary email you can use to access your main accounts in case you need to

You can also set trusted contacts to help you regain access in case of a takeoverUse disposable virtual cards for online payments to avoid revealing your main card details

 

Never share your passwords with anyone, especially in chats

Use a password manager to avoid (re)using weak credentials that cyber-criminals can crack in secondsRead the terms and conditions when joining a new service.

 Legal terms are not fun but this helps you form an opinion of how digital footprint expands with each sign-up

Cover the camera on your device with a piece of black tape or a dedicated cover. Alternatively, you can use a Bitdefender security solution with built-in alerts that warn you if an external party is using your camera and microphone without permission
Use encrypted messaging apps for your communicationsChoose a privacy-focused browser with built-in ad blockers

 Do the same for your search engineAvoid hosting and sharing sensitive documents on channels such as messaging apps or free, unencrypted cloud storage platforms

Turn off Internet-connected devices whenever you are not using them. Pay special attention to home assistants

Use your legal “Right to be forgotten” under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other laws to ask for your data to be completely wiped out from specific providers

 

Start using a monitoring tool for digital identity protection to get instant notifications when your email address, phone number or credit card details get leaked in data breaches

 

ways to protect your digital footprint