Your digital footprint is any information about you that is found online, including your name, home address, phone number, birth date, locations you visited, and photos you shared and posted on social media. In the digital world, we leave behind two types of traces — active and passive digital footprints:
Protecting your digital footprint means keeping your personal information and online activities safe. It’s very important because your online presence can reveal a lot about you, and bad actors can use this information to steal your identity, trick you, or harm your reputation. By safeguarding your digital footprint, you can reduce the risk of cybercrimes, maintain a positive online image, and keep your personal data from being used for malicious intent.
Think of this as the activity you consciously carry out online. For example, when you share posts, comments, or chat on social media, that’s you creating an active digital footprint. Any time you use a username on a website or sign up for newsletters, you’re also adding to it. Basically, it’s what you intentionally put out there on the internet.
This is what happens behind the scenes. When you visit websites, they can collect information about you. They might note how often you visit, where you’re from, and even your computer’s IP address. These are passive digital footprints, and you might not even realize they’re being collected. Social media and advertisers use your likes, shares, and comments to figure out what you’re interested in in order to show you content accordingly.
The things you do online build up a digital picture of who you are. This collection of online actions is called your digital footprint, and it’s much like a mosaic of “you”. Let’s look at some of the ways you create this mosaic:
Whenever you buy items online, sign up for discounts, use shopping or banking apps, apply for a credit card, buy stocks, or read financial news, you’re actively adding to your digital footprint.
Your social media presence, which includes activities like logging into your social accounts, using them to access other websites, connecting with friends, sharing content, or joining dating apps, plays a pivotal role in shaping your digital identity.
Staying informed by subscribing to online news, reading articles on news apps, sharing news, and being active in the health and fitness domain via fitness trackers, health apps, or reading health blogs, all form part of your digital footprint.
Your web browser, while enhancing your online experience, also contributes to your digital footprint. Unfortunately, your web browsing habits and IP address can be exploited for purposes that may not align with your best interests.
Various trackers, such as fitness trackers, reading trackers, time trackers, and subscriptions, actively monitor your online activities, expanding your digital footprint. Subscribing to newsletters, blogs, and vouchers adds another layer by revealing your preferences and habits to marketers.
Your digital communications, including emails and texts, are essential components of your digital footprint. Moreover, the information you provide on online forms, whether related to shopping, loan applications, or service requests, is stored digitally and can be of interest to marketers.
Opinions shared on message boards, social media, news websites, and opinion blogs, can significantly impact your reputation and credibility. Over time, modifying or removing public comments can become more challenging.
If you’re curious about your digital footprint and want to take a closer look at it, you can follow these steps to gain insights into the information that’s available about you online and better manage your digital presence.
Type your name into a search engine.
Try different versions of your name and any online nicknames.
Sometimes, unique online names can talk more about you than your real name.
Search for your social media handle followed by the platform’s name in a search engine.
You’ll see a list of your popular social media posts.
Alternatively, visit your social media profiles and scroll through your past posts.
To find specific posts, search using your social media handle, platform name, and relevant keywords.
Perform a reverse image search to see if any of your images have been posted to sites, you’re not aware of.
Instead of focusing solely on text content, this step helps you discover visual content related to you.
Aggregator websites are platforms that collect data from various sources on the internet and provide a centralized location for information, such as Google News, Feedly, Flipboard, and more.
They might have already gathered information about your digital footprint.
Create Google Alerts to keep an eye on your name online.
You’ll get a notification whenever your name pops up in new online content.
While you can’t eliminate your entire digital footprint, you can take steps to protect it. Here are some best practices to help protect your online identity:
Avoid oversharing on social media websites and public forums. Do not share information that could be linked to you, like your home address, phone number, and date of birth unless necessary.
Delete any information you do not want social media services to store on their end if you’ve already provided it. Additionally, delete any accounts, posts, pictures, or videos you no longer want to be associated with.
Review the privacy settings for all your online accounts to limit the amount of data that is collected and shared.
Consider deleting accounts you are not using anymore.
When signing up for online services that need your personal information, use an alternate email address or a pseudonym.
When surfing online, use a private browser or a VPN to prevent third-party services from tracking your online activity.
Remove any data stored on your device regularly. Clear your browser history, cache, and cookies.
Deleting your digital footprint is next to impossible because any activity you made online has traces of information linked to you already stored from third-party services, the government or other entities. You can, however, minimize your digital footprint and reduce what information is publicly available about you. Here's how:
Log in to your Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, Youtube, or any of the social media accounts you have a profile registered. Do this as well to your email accounts or any online account that stores your personal information.
Delete unnecessary information you do not want the website or service stored on their end. This includes your home address, phone number, and date of birth.
Delete posts, pictures or videos you no longer want to be associated with.
Consider deleting accounts you are not using anymore.
Review the privacy settings for all your online accounts. Limit the amount of data that is collected and shared.
Your digital footprint entails several risks and consequences that can impact you in various ways:
Your digital actions are easily accessible to anyone. Information can spread widely, affecting your reputation. Additionally, things can get lost in translation online, leading to misunderstandings. Old photos, posts, or words can be taken out of context, potentially causing problems. For instance, a seemingly innocuous comment can be misconstrued, affecting your professional image.
Employers and educational institutions often check your online presence, conducting a digital background check. Your online behavior can influence whether you get a job or get into school. Moreover, your past online actions, even those from years ago, can significantly impact your job prospects, as employers increasingly consider your online history in their hiring decisions.
Your online behavior can affect how trustworthy people find you. Troubling aspects of your online history might lead to questions about your credibility.
Malicious actors can exploit your online presence through various social engineering tactics. They can use the information they gather from your digital footprint to craft convincing phishing attacks, manipulate your trust, or even engage in identity theft.
Hackers may exploit old passwords, often purchased from the Dark Web, for the purpose of data theft. Malicious individuals can use your digital trail to launch attacks, like phishing or password cracking, making you vulnerable to online threats.
Threat actors can misuse your publicly available data for various crimes, such as applying for loans or credit cards in your name.
Sensitive information from your online presence can be used to publicly embarrass you or as a tool for blackmail.