Every day we create dozens of new connections to the Internet — we open websites, register for applications, test new services and provide data to access them. Over time, this information forms a digital footprint that can reveal more about our online habits, interests, and activities than we realize.
Users often think about privacy only after data leaks or suspicious activity in their accounts. However, security concerns begin earlier — at the moment a new profile is created. When services request a phone number to confirm registration, it is not always necessary to link your primary personal phone number to them. In such situations, some users choose temporary numbers, such as GetTempNumber, as an additional way to separate personal data from newly created online accounts.
It is impossible to completely manage a digital footprint, but understanding what information we transmit and where it is stored helps make our online presence safer.
Where Does Your Digital Footprint Begin?
A digital footprint is the collection of data that a person leaves behind while using the Internet. It includes everything from search queries and social media activity to online purchases and accounts created on different platforms. Even if a person is using a false name and surname, they still create a digital profile, which will continue to follow them, because websites can determine a user’s IP address, approximate location, interests, search history, and much more. Using all these parameters, it is possible to create a digital profile of a user or, in some cases, even identify who they are in real life.
It is extremely important to keep in mind that there are two types of digital footprints:
- An active footprint includes comments, photos, videos, captions, likes, follower lists, search queries, accounts in services, purchases in online stores. For employers, university admissions committees, and government organizations, your accounts are a reflection of your identity that people use when making various decisions, whether they are making hiring decisions or evaluating potential ethical concerns.
 - Passive — when information is collected automatically, even if you do not intentionally provide it. Here we are talking about cookies, device (or browser) fingerprinting and other analytical systems. For example, many services use fingerprinting to detect possible fraud (for example, if a user’s account has been accessed by unauthorized individuals). Advertising trackers are used to create targeted ads based on a person’s interests and behavior (based on many different characteristics).
Cookies are used to authenticate users, store personal settings, and collect analytics data. The main thing to know is that cookies can be cleared periodically to reduce the digital footprint and maintain data privacy. This is especially true for sites that you have not visited for a long time.
Why Complete Online Anonymity Is Nearly Impossible
Unfortunately, a private account on a social network does not guarantee that the information posted on the page will not be shared or exposed in the future. It’s not even about potential hacker attacks and data leaks, but simply about the ability of any of your contacts can take screenshots. In other words, images of your posts may be shared on other platforms.
By the way, if you suddenly find your data on a website where you do not want it to appear, then it is technically possible to delete it if you can contact the website administrators. In addition, you can try to rely on the so-called right to be forgotten, which has existed since 2016 under data protection legislation. But it does not guarantee the removal of information, only the links from search results.
Nevertheless, it is quite possible to reduce the digital footprint if you take the time to adjust privacy settings on your devices and browsers.
What Can Put Your Personal Data at Risk
First, do not forget about phishing and similar cyber threats that hackers use to steal data. We have dedicated a separate article to this topic.
Secondly, you should not save account passwords in your browser. You should not use the same password for all accounts, simply because remembering multiple passwords is more difficult. This, of course, greatly facilitates the task for attackers who, in the event of a password breach (having access to the corresponding username as well), immediately gain access to the user’s other accounts.
Thirdly, do not forget about various types of malware. For example, there are keyloggers. With the help of such malware, attackers can obtain any, including confidential information that a user enters on their device, including their payment details. Keyloggers are quite difficult to detect, since most of the time this Trojan operates unnoticed and records everything the user types.
There are Trojans that can steal account data from various services and crypto wallets, as well as saved passwords and cookies from browsers.
Many of these problems can be avoided with modern security technologies (they will protect you from phishing, prevent malware from downloaded, and generate complex passwords).
Practical Steps to Reduce Your Digital Footprint
One of the important elements of privacy is a strong password. But let’s be honest, it’s hard to come up with and remember a long and complex password. To do this, it is better to choose a good password manager. The program will securely store all your passwords, and if desired, generate them automatically as well. You will only have to remember one master password — for the password manager itself.
Moreover, a large number of sites now allow you to set up two-factor authentication, when after entering your username and password, you also need to enter an authentication code via SMS (or from a push notification or email, the options may be different). With this function, you will seriously make it much harder for attackers to succeed, who, even if they receive login credentials, will not be able to log into the account without having access to the second authentication factor. The main thing to remember is that this code should never be shared with anyone, especially when it comes to bank accounts.
Another important step is to think carefully about what information you provide when creating new accounts. Many services request email addresses and phone numbers, even when this information is not always required. Separating your personal and online identities can help reduce the amount of data connected to your main contact details.
Conclusion
Sometimes it may seem that no one is interested in our data and that it will not be stolen, so we don’t always think about security and privacy measures. However, do not neglect this, because today everything that is uploaded to the Internet can remain there indefinitely. And who knows how scammers will use this information to damage your reputation.
