This article is the second of a three-part series regarding digital footprints.
The first article was an introduction to digital footprints, while this article will discuss how a digital footprint is created by someone using the internet. The third article covers how to delete a digital footprint.
To learn about how a digital footprint is created, read on to the sections below:
- Creation of a Digital Footprint
- Passive Digital Footprint
- Active Digital Footprint
- Information to Never Put on the Web
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Digital Footprints
Creation of a Digital Footprint
Social media often tempts people to over-share.
Similar to an actual footprint, a digital footprint is formed by collecting data that someone has left behind, except instead of a footprint on the ground, the information is derived from actions they’ve taken on the internet.
As a user navigates the web and displays information about oneself, that information can be gathered by observers or companies in order to create a digital footprint specific to that user. This footprint is a type of signature for the user’s identity and behavior.
There are two primary categories of digital footprint: passive and active.
Passive Digital Footprint
Browse safely and don't visit suspicious websites.
A passive digital footprint is one that is created automatically through normal internet use.
Information such as a user’s IP address, the websites they’ve visited and how they’ve interacted with them, time spent on different pages, and some other details can all be gathered by a website in order to create a log of that visitor.
That information can be placed into a database and accessed the next time a site sees the same IP address login to their site. Sites can use that stored information in order to better understand what the user is looking for so they can provide algorithmically targeted content, or so they can display targeted ads that will have a higher chance of being clicked on by the user.
A passive footprint is inevitable and difficult to prevent, but it does not pose many dangers to security (assuming that the websites visited are not malicious).
Active Digital Footprint
The information you enter online can be used against you.
An active digital footprint refers to a footprint built around actions entirely under the user’s control. In other words, an active digital footprint is made up of information that the user has chosen to share.
For example, if an person logs into a social media site and shares content, or signs up for a web service using their details about their real identity, or talks about themselves in a forum, or publicly posts about their personal life (as in a blog post, tweet, Facebook status update, LinkedIn post, etc.) then their information has been exposed and is already being used to generate a footprint.
This may sound relatively harmless. Why does it matter if a website like CNET knows that John Smith is browsing their website from such and such a company?
Even though such a footprint may not lead to any immediate personal consequences, it can become compromising if unfamiliar sources begin associating the user (John Smith in this example) with what that user does in real life.
For example, does John have access to protected company information on his computer? Does John work with sensitive customer files? Has John given any clues about how to access personal financial information? Is John sloppy about the passwords he uses for the websites he uses?
All of these risks and more can increase the likelihood that a person becomes targeted by a scam, a cyber attack, online bullying, or identity theft. The less careful you are about the information you share online, the easier it is for anyone with ill intent to exploit you and your data.
Information to Never Put on the Web
Data leaks can have disastrous consequences for your company.
In general, you should avoid sharing sensitive personal data online to keep yourself safe, but additionally you should take extra precautions to share even less on a company network. Compromising the integrity of your work network can have even greater consequences if you do not take precautions to stay safe.
In particular, you should never associate your work device with the following information online:
- Full identity
- Social Security Number
- Passwords
- Financial/personal information of your clients
- Don’t share online comments on security flaws in your device/network (perhaps your computer is running Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, which are both easily exploitable)
To clarify, you can share this information with your employer for the sake of your working arrangement with them, but you should do your best to not share this data anywhere else. Discuss sensitive information internally through secure channels, and avoid discussing it through something like text or social media.
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