Did you know that every interaction you have online can shape the way you’re perceived on the web?
You’ve likely spent years creating your online identity, without even knowing it.
While it’s important for most of us to have a digital presence, our digital footprint can reveal a lot about our lives – and in some cases, perhaps a little too much.
Here, we discuss the different types of digital footprints, why they are important, and how to check and protect your online reputation to make sure you’re giving off the best impression and keeping your private information out of the public domain.
Defining a digital footprint
What do we mean when we use the term ‘digital footprint’?
Essentially, your digital footprint refers to the trail of data that you create while using the internet.
It includes all the information you leave behind – either intentionally or unintentionally, actively or passively – every time you engage with websites and apps. Much of this data is gleaned from public social media profiles; if you’re active on sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, and your account isn’t set to private, all your activity will be easily discoverable by anyone who is interested in finding it.
As you can imagine, your digital footprint can reveal a lot about your habits, preferences, location, and relationships. Leaving this information out to public scrutiny isn’t always a bad thing in itself – but unfortunately it can be used by companies for targeted advertising and even used to facilitate privacy breaches. So, it’s a good idea to be conscious of what you’re putting out there, how your digital footprint can affect how you’re being perceived and the experience you’re receiving online, and how it might be used against you.
What are the different types of digital footprints?
There are four types of digital footprints that the average web user needs to be aware of:
Active digital footprints
Your active digital footprint consists of all the data you intentionally share online. This information is both visible and traceable, but you can control how you engage with online communities and decide to only share what you’re comfortable with.
A typical active digital footprint might include:
- Posts, likes, comments and shares on social media
- Comments on forums, blog posts, news articles and YouTube videos
- Emails, including attachments and signatures, specifically if you’re using web-based email services like Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook
- Information submitted via online forms
- Information you’ve shared on your own website or within your own digital portfolio, which likely includes your direct contact details
- Reviews you’ve left on platforms like Amazon, TripAdvisor, and Google Reviews
- Information you’ve provided when signing up for online accounts with, for example, Netflix or Spotify
- Information you’ve submitted in online surveys and quizzes
- Contributions you’ve made to collaborative websites like Wikipedia, GitHub, or Udemy
- Content you’ve sent through instant messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Telegram
- Questions and responses you’ve posted on boards in communities like Reddit or Quora
- Files you’ve uploaded to cloud services like Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive
- Petitions you’ve signed
- Cookies that you’ve agreed to install on your devices
Passive digital footprints
The data generated by your passive digital footprint is often a byproduct of the things you’ve been doing online. This information is not created mindfully, but nonetheless, it’s used by service providers and marketers to analyse your behavior and serve you targeted ads. It often consists of things like:
- Your browsing history, including the websites you’ve visited, the pages you’ve viewed, how you’ve interacted with them, and how long you’ve stayed on each page (usually collected through cookies, tracking scripts, and tracking pixels)
- Your IP address, which is logged by websites, servers and online services every time you connect to the web
- Your search engine queries
- Your app usage data
- Your location data
- Your shopping cart data
- Information about your device, including its model, operating system, browser type, screen resolution, and MAC address or IMEI number
- Information about the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks you have connected to
- Logs of your online activity, including login/logout times and errors
- Timestamps and geotags from social media websites
- Email tracking data
- Streaming data
Anonymous digital footprints
These footprints consist of actions that aren’t directly tied to your personal identity, but still contribute to your online profile. Even when you’re visiting a website in incognito mode or using a pseudonym, your activity is never truly private – metadata can still be collected and linked to your activity pattern.
Examples of the data points often found in anonymous online footprints are:
- Your IP address (without any personal information, if you’ve requested that the data remains anonymous in your settings)
- Data on your browser type, operating system etc that’s been collected by the websites you’ve visited
- Cookie data
- User experience data, such as your page engagement and navigation behaviors
- Ad tracking and targeting data
- Incognito browsing histories
- So-called ‘anonymous’ search queries
- Anonymous feedback and surveys
- Anonymous social media interactions
- Activity carried out on the Tor network, which is typically anonymized by being routed through multiple servers
- Interactions with blockchain networks
- VPN usage
Pseudonymous digital footprints
These are digital traces linked to an alias rather than a real identity. For instance, if you’re a blogger, you might decide to write under a pen name. By doing so, you’ll be creating a pseudonymous footprint.
While this approach can offer some privacy, sophisticated tracking techniques can sometimes link pseudonyms to real people, particularly when combined with other data points. The bottom line is, you might think you’re beating the system, but you’ll never be truly anonymous!
Some examples of pseudonymous data points include:
- Aliases and usernames
- Email addresses without your real name
- Anonymous posts on forums
- Pseudonymous names or handles on social media
- Pseudonymous ecommerce accounts (with the likes of eBay and Etsy)
- Online gaming profile tags
- Cryptocurrency wallets
- Contributions to open-source projects
- Contributions to crowdfunding projects
Why is your digital footprint important?
As we mentioned earlier, your digital footprint reveals a lot about you. It’s a reflection of your entire journey online – and it’s out there for anyone to see, meaning that, unfortunately, it can be exploited.
It’s permanent
The information your digital footprint holds will help other people shape a view on who you are, how you behave, and what you value. Old media from decades ago can be found, analysed, potentially misinterpreted, and used to create a profile of you that might not be entirely accurate. Even content that you thought was long deleted can often resurface, which is why it’s so essential to be careful about what you share on the web.
It can help determine your reputation – both online and offline
If you once expressed a controversial opinion on Facebook, made an inappropriate joke to a friend on Twitter, or berated somebody in a forum, these seemingly off-the-cuff comments can still be unearthed, affecting your credibility. You might have evolved since then, but your character can still be tarnished by what went on before.
It helps employers and officials with their vetting processes
Statistics show that more than three quarters of employers google their prospective hires during recruitment drives, so whatever you are associated with online could have a bearing on the opportunities you’re offered. Plus, colleges, universities, security companies, police departments and even government representatives may be inclined to examine your digital footprint to better understand your public profile.
You might be wondering how employers and officials can access and analyze your digital footprint without spending days trawling through your data. Well, the truth is, there are lots of background checking tools available, including:
Maigret, an open-source intelligence (OSINT) platformwhich helps companies find accounts and websites that are associated with a particular username.
MOSINT, another OSINT tool that gathers information associated with a specific email address.
Nexfil, which enables employers to find profiles allocated to particular usernames.
It might threaten your personal safety
Companies and cybercriminals can use the data in your digital footprint to learn more about you and use this information for their own gain.
Perhaps they’ll simply use this data to serve up more relevant advertisements to you while you’re browsing – or maybe they’ll use your data to develop a convincing spear-phishing attack or release sensitive information about you without your consent (something which is known as doxing). Be aware that, if there’s lots of information about you in the digital ether, there’s a chance that somebody, somewhere will try to use it to their advantage.
Digital footprint examples
We’ve touched on a few examples – but let’s take a closer look at what actually makes up your digital footprint and delve into the kinds of data points that are going to leave a lasting impression online.
Social media
- Logins from any device, including your mobile phone
- Connecting with friends – for example, accepting a friend request on Facebook
- The content you share with your friends and followers
- Logging into third party websites using your social media account details
- Joining a dating site or app
Online shopping data
- Making online purchases
- Creating an account with an online retailer
- Signing up for coupons
- Registering for newsletters from retailers
- Browsing and making purchases via shopping apps
Online banking
- Using a mobile or browser-based banking app
- Submitting an application for a new credit card
- Buying or selling stocks
- Subscribing to financial content (blogs and online magazines)
Reading the news
- Browsing articles on a news app
- Subscribing to an online news outlet
- Signing up for a newsletter
- Reposting news articles on forums or social profiles
Health and fitness
- Using fitness trackers
- Using calorie counting or recipe apps
- Using healthcare apps
- Registering your contact information with a gym or sports center
There are a whole host of other elements that will be recorded when you’re actively using the internet. Your IP address will be noted, the browsers you’re using (and some of their settings) will be tracked, and there will be information available on every online form you complete.
How to check your digital footprint
Interested to see what your digital footprint looks like? There are several ways you can check in on your activity and get a better feel for your online reputation:
Search for your name on search engines
Open a search engine like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo, then enter your full name in quotation marks (e.g., “John Doe”) to search for exact matches. You should also try variations of your name – including nicknames, middle names, or any professional aliases you use – to see if these data points have been indexed, too.
Keep an eye out for personal information about yourself, any publicly accessible social media profiles that you’ve made, any mentions in news articles or publications, and links to online content you’ve created. You can also use reverse image search tools to see where your profile picture appears online.
Check aggregated websites
Visit websites that aggregate personal information, such as Whitepages, Spokeo, MyLife, or Pipl. Search for your name, email address, or phone number on these sites, and review the information that’s returned, which will likely include your contact details, addresses, social profiles, and any other public records.
These aggregator websites often have their own processes for removing or opting out of listings. Look for an opt-out link, which is usually found in the site’s privacy policy or help section. From there, follow the instructions to remove or hide your information from public view. This might involve submitting a request or verifying your identity.
Set up Google Alerts for your name
Go to Google Alerts. In the search box, enter your name in quotation marks (e.g., “John Doe”) to track exact matches. You can customize the alert by choosing how often you want to receive notifications, the sources you’re interested in (news, blogs, web), and the language and region. Finally, enter your email address to receive alerts and click “Create Alert.” You should start receiving round-up emails straightaway.
This will keep you across any new mentions that might have a damaging impact on your reputation. Reviewing your Google Alerts may also help you spot opportunities to correct any misinformation or thank authors for positive coverage of you.
Review your old social media activity
There’s no fast way to do this. You’ll need to log into each of your social media accounts individually and review your profile information, photos, posts and interactions to make sure there’s nothing housed on these sites that could be held against you (or give away too much information about you). Most of these platforms have search and/or activity log features that enable you to review all your past actions.
How to protect your digital footprint
If all this talk of your online footprint is making you uncomfortable, don’t worry – there are plenty of things you can do to safeguard your digital reputation and protect your sensitive information.
Be mindful sharing of personal data online
The less you share, the harder it is for cybercriminals to analyse your digital footprint, and the better reputation you’ll have overall. Remove references to your personal phone number and email address and take a breath before posting anything that could be perceived in a negative light in the future; it might come back to haunt you.
Use strong, unique passwords and utilise a password manager
This should be common practice, but it’s easy to resort back to familiar passwords, most of which are easily compromised through hacking. To keep attackers at bay, use complex pass phrases that combine letters, numbers and symbols, and don’t be tempted to use easily guessed information like birthdays or names. Using a reputable password manager will help you generate and store passwords for each account.
Use two-factor authentication (2FA) where possible
Activate 2FA on your accounts to add an extra layer of security. This usually involves a secondary verification step, such as a code sent to your phone, in addition to your password.
Delete old accounts
Regularly audit your online accounts and close any that you no longer use. This will reduce the number of places where your data is stored, and in turn lower the risk of breaches.
Regularly review social media privacy settings
Take back as much control over your social visibility as you can! Check to make sure your profiles and their contents are not visible to the public and learn how to maximise the privacy settings on each site.
Avoid logging in with Facebook
Sidestep potential security risks by finding another way to access third-party sites that request you login using your Facebook credentials. You don’t need to be sharing your social media sign-in data unnecessarily.
Frequently update your software
Outdated software typically contains a ton of data points that could be more easily accessed by cybercriminals. Make sure everything you use is updated regularly so it’s running the latest security patches.
Use security software
Cybersecurity threats come in all shapes and forms, so you need to install a high-grade anti-virus solution across all your devices that can stop any intruders in their tracks. SUPERAntiSpyware’s Professional X Edition package protects every PC against malware, spyware, trojan attempts, keyloggers, and much more. It also quarantines any potential files and deletes them securely, if required.
Review your mobile apps
The last thing you want to do is review all those lengthy terms and conditions – but take a moment to read each app’s user agreement so you know precisely what you’re signing up for and how your data might be used by the app’s creators. If it turns out they’re mining personal information, you may want to find an alternative that doesn’t store data on, for example, your location or your online activities.
Use a VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) masks your IP address and encrypts your internet connection, making it more difficult for third parties to track your online activities. Choose a reputable VPN service and activate it whenever you’re browsing the internet, especially on public or unsecured networks.
Who can see my digital footprint?
Remember, it’s not just you who can see your online footprint. Your web profile is visible to:
- Employers
- Schools
- Colleges
- Hackers
- Peers
- Internet providers
- Phone companies
- Advertisers
- Law enforcement
- Data brokers
This is why you need to:
- Understand how data about you is collected online, whether actively or passively
- Take steps to minimize the personal information you share online
- Protect your data as far as you can, using the methods listed earlier
- Regularly review your digital footprint and remove any references or content that could affect your reputation