A key aspect of staying safe online is minimizing your digital footprint, and while tools like Surfshark VPN can help, take it a step further by bringing the fight to data collectors with Incogni.
There are companies that exist with the sole purpose of buying personal data online in massive hauls. The data can be used for legitimate purposes like training ad targeting, but it can also be used by bad actors seeking to commit identity theft or target specific groups.
What's worse, if bad actors can gather enough aggregate data about an individual, they can more easily steal their accounts or identity online. While it may seem fruitless to try and fight these massive companies, there are simple strategies that go a long way.
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Basic internet hygiene goes a long way
Before we discuss removing data from the web, it's important to understand how you can keep it off of the internet in the first place. Everything you do, like the websites you visit and the things you buy, is monitored online and offline.
First, protect yourself and your accounts by using unique passwords on every website. When a website like Home Depot is hacked and data is stolen, one of the things bad actors do is try username and password combinations on other accounts like email or bank accounts.
Second, share as little personally identifiable information as you can as it can be used for identity theft. That starts with social media accounts, but applies to companies like Amazon as well.
For example, don't just upload your contacts list because an app asks for it. And you can still use social media, just avoid sharing your personal data like maiden name, home address, email, or phone number, even in private chats.
If you've overshared in the past, it may be a good idea to go back and delete old public social media posts or entire accounts. While the website itself may keep an archive of the post, at least web crawlers and Google search results won't surface that old data.
If you want to go a step further, use something like Surfshark VPN to mask your IP address from your internet service provider. That will hide what websites you visit and provide even less data for companies to gather.
Surfshark also offers other features like Alternative ID, which lets users provide generated email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and names to sign up sheets. By keeping your true identity secret, an account can't be tied to you if that website is hacked.
It is never too late to start taking control of your data online. Expose less personal information starting now, and your footprint will decrease with time.
Bring the fight to data brokers with Incogni
Okay, so you've started practicing proper internet hygiene and it's time to clean up what's already out there. Rather than calling hundreds of companies and reaching dead ends, wasting time and money, there is a service that'll do the leg work for you.
Incogni is a company that specializes in contacting data broker websites and people search sites to request data deletion on behalf of the customer.
If you've ever wondered why your email inbox fills with endless spam, your phone is constantly buzzing with spam calls, and your physical mail is packed with credit card offers, it's because of data broker databases. Well, at least in part.
Some of the annoyances come from just existing, applying for loans, or buying a product. Sadly, there is no way to completely avoid them without hiding in a cave and disconnecting from the internet.
However, you can reclaim some sense of sanity and remain in your home and online thanks to Incogni. The company will scan the internet for your personal information that is being sold by data brokers and people search sites, send removal requests, and continue to monitor for more exposed data.
If requests are ignored, they are sent on repeat. It is a brute force method, but effective.
If you've ever checked Google search results when searching for your name, you may find people search sites, websites offering to reveal your work, phone number, property records, or even websites promising to show criminal history. These websites get their data from public data breach dumps or by buying the data from data brokers and optimizing that data for search engines.
Data brokers get the information from companies that sell the data freely for extra profits. For example, many websites will offer coupons in your email inbox, but their terms of service also state your collected email can be sold to third parties.
Incogni can help reclaim all of your data and reduce your digital footprint online.
Here's how the process works:
- Sign up for an Incogni account and provide permission for the company to act on your behalf.
- Incogni scans people search and data broker sites for your data.
- Removal requests are sent, then resent until something is done.
- Repeated scans prevent websites from re-adding data about you.
- Lists of data brokers, people search sites, and more are updated regularly so Incogni can stay on top of things.
- If a data broker appeals a removal request, Incogni handles the appeal for you.
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