Have you ever wondered what someone might be able to find out about you by simply Googling your name? From terrifyingly close-to-reality episodes of Black Mirror to the dangerous impact of social networking revealed in The Social Dilemma, everyone is slowly waking up to the constant infringement on our privacy that we face in the digital age.
Bad actors wield our lack of privacy to their advantage, using our publicly exposed information to target us. All of the data that you leave behind online is called your digital footprint. Your digital footprint grows when you post to social media, share an article, leave a review or comment, fill out a form using your personal information, etc.
What We Can Do To Help
We find and flag sensitive information that puts you at risk of being targeted. From there, we can remove the information from the internet, or keep it if it’s something you feel comfortable sharing publicly.
Why does the information in your digital footprint matter? Bad actors weaponize this data to target victims for social engineering, as well as theft, blackmail, exploitation, phishing scams, harassment, or stalking. Even the most seemingly innocent pieces of information can be used against you. Your home address, your frequent locations, where you went to school and the year you graduated, wealth information, even images of your pets and kids.
A Real Example of Weaponized Data
For example, let’s say you upload a picture of your dog to Instagram. A bad actor could zoom in on the tag on your dog’s collar, revealing your name and home address. They can use that information to open credit cards or take out loans in your name, intercept mail, steal your identity, or make physical threats against you and your family. Alternatively, maybe you use your pet’s name as a password, or it’s the answer to an account security question. A quick glance at your social media page could give away that password.
We’re not saying all this to scare you, or saying that you should delete all of your social media. Technology is a powerful tool, and we believe in a world where it is used to uplift and connect people, rather than target them. As technology is integrated more and more into our lives, it’s important to maintain our privacy and avoid being vulnerable to bad actors. The first step to a strong defense is education— now that you know the threat exists, what can you do to stop it? Hush offers digital privacy for individuals, businesses and families. Our goal is to eliminate the sensitive, personal information from the Internet so you can live a more digitally private life, and feel safer online.
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