Every online action leaves a digital footprint that influences your online identity. This footprint can have both positive and negative effects. To protect one’s online presence, it’s essential to understand what the digital footprint is and the potential consequences of leaving it online. This article will discuss these risks, provide tips on how to protect your information and highlight the importance of online security tools like Surfshark Antivirus to keep your personal data safe.
What is a digital footprint?
A digital footprint, electronic footprint, or digital shadow is the activities and traceable data you leave behind online. It can include things like logging into an app, browsing the web, posting on social media, etc. One simple use of digital footprint is advertising — advertisers can gather information about your interests and preferences from your digital footprint and show you targeted ads.
There are two types of digital footprints:
● Active digital footprint consists of the data you intentionally leave online, such as posts or comments you make on social media, newsletter subscriptions, and online purchases;
● Passive digital footprint consists of data that might be collected without you knowing. It simply depends on website cookies — they track your visits, IP (Internet Protocol) address, biometric and geolocation information, and more.
Let’s look at some numbers. According to Surfshark’s study on digital footprints, people use nine apps on average for 4 to 5 hours every day, mainly for social interactions. The average smartphone user can generate up to 188 digital footprints daily. Of course, developers use some data to improve your apps, so not all data is used for malicious purposes, but the numbers are still shocking.
So, understanding your digital footprint is important, but effectively managing it is crucial. Failing to do so can lead to serious consequences. Let’s explore the possible outcomes.
What are the consequences of leaving a digital footprint?
Your digital footprint can heavily influence how you access your accounts, impact your online reputation, and determine the advertisements you see online. It also increases the risk of being hacked.
For example, if a cybercriminal gets a hold of your digital footprint, they can impersonate you and trick the people close to you to give out your personal information. Or, if a service you use experiences a data breach, they could leak your sensitive data.
What’s even worse is that your digital footprint can be easily accessible. Data brokers, advertisers, mobile carriers, internet providers, co-workers, hackers, and other internet users can find it, too.
Given the potential risks, taking proactive measures to protect your digital footprint and safeguard your personal information online is crucial.
How can you protect your digital footprint?
To minimize your active digital footprint, limit the amount of data you share online, adjust your privacy settings, delete old accounts that are no longer in use, and avoid untrusted websites. As for protecting your passive digital footprint, you should consider more advanced security measures, such as using Surfshark Antivirus, which is part of Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ plans.
How can Surfshark Antivirus protect your digital footprint?
Surfshark Antivirus provides powerful device protection against malware and other cyberthreats. It can help safeguard your digital footprint by performing the following:
● Protecting devices from malware, like keyloggers, that secretly gather your data;
● Scanning for threats in real-time to prevent harmful software from accessing your data;
● Finding and removing adware — software that shows ads and collects user data.
Additionally, Surfshark Antivirus also offers the following:
● Real-time protection;
● Webcam protection;
● Fully customizable security;
● Prevention of online activity tracking by ad companies and bots.
Let’s say you’re already following the general security tips and using Surfshark Antivirus. What more can you do to safeguard yourself as much as possible? You can try other products that are included in the Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ plans. Let’s discover how they can help you protect your digital footprint.
Additional security measures to protect your digital footprint
Surfshark stands out for its multifunctionality. Their Surfshark One package includes a full array of security products: Surfshark VPN, Surfshark Antivirus, Surfshark Alert, Surfshark Search, and Alternative ID. With Surfshark One+, you can also get a data removal service called Incogni.
To protect your active digital footprint, consider using the following products:
● Alternative ID: Protects your main email from spam and safeguards it from breaches;
● Surfshark Alert: Monitors your emails, credit cards, and personal identification number and provides immediate data leak alerts.
To protect your passive digital footprint, consider using the following products:
● Surfshark VPN: Enhances your online privacy by hiding your IP address and encrypting your connection and prevents tracking by websites, ISPs, and hackers;
● Surfshark Search: Delivers unbiased and ad-free search results by not logging queries or search history;
● Incogni: Requests data brokers to delete your data from their databases and monitors their compliance to prevent your data from being collected or sold again.
Using Surfshark Antivirus can be your first step toward taking proactive steps to safeguard your digital footprint. However, if you’re really concerned about your privacy, it’s worth looking into and using other bundled products.
Final thoughts on securing your digital footprint
Understanding your digital footprint is crucial for online security, but managing it is what really matters. For your active footprint, limit the information you share online, update your privacy settings, and perform a spring cleaning of your old accounts. For the passive footprint, consider advanced security measures like Surfshark Antivirus, which protects against malware, scans for threats in real-time, and removes adware. And be sure to take advantage of the full Surfshark bundle to access all the additional cybersecurity tools available to you.
