The digital footprint is something that cannot be easily removed and can be misused by irresponsible parties.
With the existence of social media, which plays a significant role in “recording” these traces, taking good care of digital footprints should be a lesson for anyone to be wise with what is left in cyberspace.
In fact, according to FT, an unmanaged digital footprint can affect someone’s online reputation.
What is a Digital Footprint?
A digital footprint is the amount of data that is left behind after you move on the internet. Activities such as sending emails, visiting a website, or posting something on social media are enough to leave a digital footprint.
You can compare this one with a trip to the beach, where you will definitely leave footprints in the sand.
Well, the problem is that digital footprints can’t be lost like footprints in the sand. It will still exist even if it has been left for a long time.
This is quite dangerous because the traces left in cyberspace are information that can describe your personality. If it is not managed immediately, many irresponsible parties can easily misuse it.
The Risks of Digital Footprint
Indeed, in this modern era, everyone must have left a digital footprint, whether it’s on social media or other platforms. Users can actively publish sensitive information about their work and life by sharing it on personal blogs.
Or, users may passively, often unintentionally, contribute their metadata to frequently used services.
Examples include:
- Sharing the IP addresses of their devices.
- Displaying browsing behavior on search engines.
- Loyalty to services that can track user information.
The problem is that many people are still unaware of the dangerous risks that can come with leaving such sensitive information.
Indeed, what are the dangers that can be caused by leaving a digital footprint? Here’s the presentation:
Digital Exposure
According to the Cisco Platform, the first dangerous risk that a digital footprint can pose is digital exposure. This term refers to the free access that irresponsible people get to your data.
It may cause quite severe losses. Such as identity theft or other criminal acts.
Phishing
The subsequent risk that can arise from not being careful with digital footprints is phishing activities.
This manipulative attack can harm users by breaking into their essential data, such as bank accounts or valuable files at work.
Usually, this criminal act can occur because the attacker has obtained the victim’s sensitive information on the internet.
Personal Data Leakage
Do you know? According to the research results of Career Builder in 2017, nearly 70% of companies in the United States use social media to glance at job seeker profiles.
Yes, in this global era, recruiters will pay attention to the candidate’s lifestyle and personality based on their activities on social media. This can put workers at risk if they do not manage their digital footprint properly.
The candidate’s professional reputation can be tarnished if the company finds activities they feel do not fit their culture.
It’s also important to keep passwords managed, especially if you activate the auto-fill feature on the browser. Don’t worry; it’s actually easy to manage passwords. You can depend on the best LastPass alternatives for easy password management. It works best to manage your passwords, so you don’t need to remember them manually. Thus, you can be more protected and enjoy browsing more smoothly.
How to Manage Your Digital Footprint
As previously explained, leaving a digital footprint is something that cannot be avoided in this modern era.
However, there are still some practical ways to manage it.
Curious about the best way to manage a digital footprint? The following is his presentation according to Rasmussen’s words:
- Avoid spreading essential data on the internet, such as home addresses, ATM accounts, or mobile phone numbers.
- Create strong passwords for each of your social media accounts.
- Do not post something that is too personal.
- Use a data protection service on your favorite device.
- Search your own name on Google and delete any sensitive information you find.
In essence, the digital footprint is something that can harm internet users and is not only limited by the working environment or institution. Everyone is basically exposed to cybersecurity risks, and it’ll become much worse if the user doesn’t even realize the need to keep their data safe.
Therefore, from now on, you must be more careful when you are active on the internet so that your sensitive information is not spread widely. Always keep your personal data to yourself, and don’t ever share it with others, even those closest to you.
