Digital Disappearing: How to Protect Your Internet Identity

Hackers are out to get identities, passwords and personal information for their gain. What can you do to prevent that from happening to you?

The easy answer is to not join social media or online dating sites in the first place. But since the majority of adults now have profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and beyond, going rogue might not be so easy.

Matt Barnett of BTB Security suggests doing a simple internet search with your name and seeing what comes up. Next, do some basic tidying. Consider making your Facebook profile private, un-follow questionable accounts on Instagram and add yourself to the national Do Not Call registry.

From there, decide what goes and what stays. Ready to permanently delete your Instagram account? Check this out. Don’t want to be found via White Pages? Remove yourself by clicking here.

Once everything is nice and tidy, maintaining a low profile means rethinking how you use social media including not hitting the “Like” button.

“Even if your profile is private, the user posting the content you “Like” may not be. Searching through posts and images you “Like” may be a way to build a profile about your hobbies, interests, political views/affiliations, etc. Some court cases have even allowed these “Like”s to be introduced into evidence or used to bias jurors in civil cases. Think before you click!” Barnett said.

Also, don’t allow yourself to be tagged in pictures and posts and turn on privacy settings on your phone. Otherwise, geotagging will store information about where a photo was taken, including your exact location, the time, who was with you and so on.