Make yourself vanish from the Internet
Cybersecurity and anti-virus company Kaspersky has provided a detailed guide that people can follow to reduce and remove their digital footprint.
“Users’ digital footprints have been building up for years. Social media accounts, old comments, carelessly posted photos, message boards, and old marketplace listings,” said Kaspersky.
“Everything that each individual user has ever shared online remains there, potentially causing serious retroactive issues for the poster.”
Kaspersky said this information may be of interest to potential employers, government agencies, advertisers, scammers, and even exes.
“HR departments often conduct thorough online background checks on candidates before hiring,” it said.
“Additionally, data obtained through the use of shady services that search for leaked information from data breaches can be used for doxing and harassment purposes.”
Kaspersky offered guidelines on how to manage your personal digital footprint and minimise the amount of private information available to everyone online.
“If you don’t manage it, your digital footprint can unexpectedly come back to bite you,” the security company cautioned.
“It’s impossible to erase it completely, but you can certainly minimise the amount of information available to everyone.”
Kaspersky advised that you start by Googling yourself. It is also useful to search for your name using other engines, which may uncover things that Google misses.
Tools for this include Namechk, a service that checks the availability of usernames across more than 90 social networks, and Web Cleaner, which allows you to search for yourself across dozens of search engines.
“Why egosurf? By searching for yourself, you’ll first see exactly where you once registered, and perhaps forgot about,” Kaspersky said.
“Second, you’ll be able to check for any fake or impersonating accounts using your name. If you do find an imposter account, contact the website’s support team and demand they remove the fake profiles.”
Once you’ve dealt with the fake accounts and compiled a list of your genuine ones, Kaspersky said the next step is to delete the superfluous and outdated ones.
“Don’t rely entirely on the initial search or your own memory. Dig deep into your email archives to see which sites and services message you as their user,” it said.
“You can also review the list of saved passwords in your browsers or password managers.”
Shadow profiles and breach notifications
Unfortunately, the accounts you’ve registered are only half the battle. Sometimes social media sites generate shadow profiles containing data on you that may persist even after you delete your account.
Kaspersky said these profiles can include information you never directly shared with the service, such as if you granted a social media app access to your phone contacts.
All the data from your address book could end up in that shadow profile, even if you did not import your contacts.
“Even more unsettling, sometimes these accounts get created for users who’ve never even registered with the service, by gathering data from other platforms and open sources,” said Kaspersky.
“While it’s nearly impossible to completely prevent shadow profiles from being created, you can minimise the damage.”
Go through your old apps and revoke their access to your sensitive data. Once purged, ensure you meticulously monitor which permissions you grant to each new app.
Another source of personal data appearing online is data leaks and breaches. “Data leaks happen online virtually every day, exposing massive amounts of personal data,” said Kaspersky.
“Websites like Have I Been Pwned allow you to enter your email and get alerts if it shows up in a new leaked database.”
Unfortunately, preventing leaks is an impossible task for the average user. Therefore, the best defence is to limit the amount of personal data you share when registering new accounts.
Erase local traces and review privacy settings
Next, Kaspersky advised that you delete old emails and other messages that contain private information, as they also form part of your digital footprint.
“Go through your mail using keywords like ‘password’, ‘SSN’, or ‘account’, and delete any emails containing this sensitive data,” it said.
“Unsubscribe from old mailing lists. This lowers the chance that your email address will leak from a marketer’s database.”
Kaspersky suggested that people regularly, at least once a month, clear their browser history, cookies, and cache on all their devices.
“Alternatively, set up your browser to clear this data automatically when you close it. This lessens the chance of an outsider collecting information from your device if they gain access to it,” it said.
“On smartphones, it’s advised to disable or periodically reset your advertising identifier.”
Kaspersky said it also offers a free service allowing you to check and adjust privacy and security settings called Privacy Checker.
“It will guide you on how to configure popular social platforms, services, and even operating systems to your desired level of privacy,” it said.
Leaving no trace
To leave no trace on the Internet whatsoever, Kaspersky said significant lifestyle adjustments are necessary, including no social media under your real name, and an absolute minimum of online services.
Use only messaging apps that feature end-to-end encryption and self-destructing messages, like Signal. WhatsApp also offers this, but there are cases where messages to business accounts may be stored.
For search, Kaspersky advised using DuckDuckGo or Tor. That way, your queries aren’t tied back to your profile.
Similarly, abandon Gmail for encrypted email services that don’t require a phone number, like Temp Mail or Proton Mail.
To achieve total control of your digital footprint, it is necessary to avoid using smartphone operating systems tied to Google and Apple and adopt a completely open system, such as GrapheneOS.
As an additional step, Kaspersky recommends creating multiple personas for the online services you do use.
“This is a radical but effective way to confuse data collectors. Use different names, birth dates and emails for different spheres of your life,” it advised.
“Invent a separate alter ego for professional activity, with a clean résumé and neutral posts, and another for personal communication. The less the Internet can tie your various activities together, the better for your privacy.”
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