Your personal information on the internet is like an immortal jellyfish
Think of your online presence and the personal information as resembling an immortal jellyfish. It can live in the deepest darkest corners of the internet and be replicated and shared countless times without your knowledge. With your information so readily available on the world-wide-web, it can be easy for hackers and criminals to hoard and use your data illegally. One breach is enough to begin unraveling your entire digital life.
Most people have no real idea where their personal information exists or to what extent it’s been compromised. Without the proper security and protection, typical online activities like social media engagement, email correspondence, and online shopping can broadcast your personal information and leave it vulnerable in more places than one.
Take a moment to search your name, email, and/or social usernames in a secure browser like Duck Duck Go. Also, you can submit your email address to Haveibeenpwned? to see is that email address currently resides on breached servers around the world. The results may surprise you. Recognizing the reach of your digital footprint online can be an eye-opening and potentially terrifying experience. Our personal information is susceptible to unwanted exposure in a technological universe that is constantly evolving and growing. This continual, expansive transformation often presents more opportunities for internet corruption and malicious activity online.
To help minimize that exposure and set you on the path to securing your online presence, our team has developed a collection of best practices, tips, and recommendations, but the job doesn’t end there. If you want to maintain online privacy, ask yourself the important questions in the remaining sections about when you share your personal information online.
What happens to my online presence once I use it on a site?
Read the privacy policy websites before submitting any personal information. Nine times out of ten, you will find the answer you are looking for there. An untrustworthy site that shares your information with third parties can leave your sensitive data exposed to be hoarded, possibly cloned, and sold.
Who has access to that information?
If you use personal information to fill out online forms or share sensitive data socially, an identity thief can use that intelligence to answer ‘challenge’ questions and gain access to private accounts. If that is the case, refrain from sharing information that can put you at risk.
Where did my digital input actually go?
Some sites will sell your data to third parties for a profit. To avoid being turned into a product, read privacy policies, and steer clear of untrustworthy sites.
And though something may take only seconds to type, will it live forever?
Your personal data online is not unlike the immortal jellyfish; your sensitive information can be cloned and replicated endlessly.
While it is essential to ask these questions when navigating the internet, online privacy is like a garden that needs frequent tending. Many of us don’t have the time to monitor our online presence consistently, so you must equip yourself with the proper tools to minimize data hoarding and replicate your personal information. Presence Global enables you to take action and stop information cloning at its source by providing real-time notifications with the tools to remove your sensitive data from sites and vulnerable locations online.
With Presence Global, you can capture the full scope of your online life, control what’s being shared, eliminate unwanted and unnecessary exposure, and provide constant detection and privacy for your life online moving forward. It’s impossible to guard against what you can’t see, so we designed an intuitive and pleasing visual representation of your entire online existence – a holistic view that offers transparency to protect yourself, the ones you love, and more importantly, reclaim control of your virtual life. Check out these 4 things Presence can do to send you down the road to complete privacy and peace of mind online.
join the movement #privacyfirst
