Reducing Digital Footprints

Large data sites are constantly combing the internet for information and building online profiles that can be easily purchased and exploited. Stalking is no longer just a physical threat: Desktop surveillance and privacy invasion are on the rise. Digital data collection creates vulnerability on two fronts: personal safety and financial security.

 

In one instance, the family member of a high-profile telecom executive was targeted online and warned that his brother was being held and would be freed only if money was wired via Western Union. Such online scams are distressingly common. Fraudsters also use social engineering and data reviews to target finance executives and their firms via false emails or domains, leading to major losses that are often impossible to recover.

 

As a preventive strategy, firms and families are subscribing to our personal information removal service, which tracks more than 100 sites most active in mining and selling personal and professional information. The goal: To radically reduce clients’ digital footprints by removing real and virtual data, preventing further data collection, and monitoring changes in online privacy policies that diminish security.

 

Takeaways: Be proactive: Take control of your digital profile. Enhancing security profiles makes it difficult for fraudsters and stalkers exploit online data. Reducing digital access and vulnerability is an ongoing process and demands 24/7 oversight.