Digital Footprinting or Information Gathering
A digital footprint is any information about a particular person or any organization that exist on the internet or cyber world as the result of their online activity. It include all the information you leave behind while using services or technology like internet, social media, shopping websites, credit cards, etc.
Today internet is become an important part of our life’s. Every day we just surf internet for many of our basic task and thus how you leave behind much of your personal or commercial information like email id, mobile number, address, online history, etc.
You will be shock to know how your information or digital footprints are used by the websites, advertisers, spies, and hackers. Through Digital footprints you left behind your personal or professional information can be taken out and can also be used against you.
But it is not always that your digital footprint are used for malicious purpose. It also benefit you sometime by telling you great deals, offers and much more. It has its own pros and cons.
If you think that you have deleted your browsing history, then you are safe, then unfortunately it’s not the case. Even if you regular delete your history and cache regularly then also your footprint remains in the online world.
What is digital footprint?
There is many misconception about digital footprint and many of you haven’t ever heard about this term yet.
How you leave behind digital footprint?
Every time you visit any website, send any mail, or submit data on online services, all it add to digital footprints. Publishing blog, posting on social media sites like uploading on Facebook, Instagram, Skype, and Twitter all it add something to your digital footprint.
In short all activities you do online, you leave your digital footprints behind.
What are types of digital footprint?
There are generally two type of digital footprint which you contribute while using the services of cyber world.
Active Digital Footprints:
This is all the data you have provided intentionally and which get add to your digital footprint. For example you can take email, social media, online forums, etc. where you intentionally upload your information.
Passive Digital Footprints:
This is all your data which is generated unintentionally and add to your digital footprint without your knowledge. For example, internet browsing, online shopping, etc. Let’s understand this work. Suppose you visit any site, the web server may keep your IP address in log. By the help of this IP your location can be locate. Some website when run script to steal your personal data from your browser without.
How you can reduce your digital footprint
You can never completely delete your digital footprint of yours in the cyber world. It possible to delete your traces up to limit but removing everything you have done online is quite close to impossible.
Once any of your information come out in the cyber world publicly, there is no 100% surety about deleting it. You never know how others will use your data. So only method to be on the safe side is to reduce your digital footprint to get store in cyber world.
Now let’s see the ways by which you can delete or reduce your digital footprint.
Controlled Social media use and properly configure privacy settings
Social media site is one of top platform where almost every one leave their lot of information as digital footprint. It the source of active digital footprint fromwhere you can get most recent information of anyone. Today there is the trend in society to update all thing you daily in your status of social sites like where you are, what you are doing, where you visited etc.
These all information on social account become your digital footprint accessible publicly if you haven’t configure your privacy setting properly. So if you are using social media sites, so make sure that your privacy setting are set to be private and try to upload less data which is not sensitive.
Don’t use professional mail to register on services
Today each service you access on the internet ask for your email to register there. So, you just leave your detail information as a digital footprint on many websites. Not all, but some of this website use to sell your information like mail ids, phone number etc. to advertisers, shopping sites, other commercial platform. That why you get many advertisement from different service on your professional mail id, which disturbs you. So to be safe at this point you should use a temporary or extra (specially made registration purpose) in place of your regular or professional mail id.
Delete critical information on the online marketing account
If you use internet, then you must have use any e-commerce and retailer services. Accounts on these services usually have all your financial data and original information. You should delete all your details like account number, credit card, and other crucial information immediately after using.
Other thing you should remember are that, clear your browsing history and cache every time, use incognito mode while surfing over internet, try to use VPN, proxy or Tor browser, try to hide your genuine information where it not necessary to use and add false information.
So through this we try to told you that what is digital footprint and how important for you to reduce your digital footprint from cyber world.
No comments
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.