What are the consequences of a Digital Footprint?

• Data brokers
• Advertisers
• Phone carriers
• Internet providers
• Employers
• Cybercriminals
• Hackers
• Peers
•  Co-workers

• Access control: Providing information online lets users gain access to different applications and services. For example, people can use their email address, name and other information about them to create social media accounts, log in to a banking application or subscribe to an online publication.
• Online reputation. The information a person posts, says or otherwise leaves online influences how others perceive them. Seeing someone's browsing history, likes on social media platforms or online shopping history provides information about their personality and interests. This is often a benign consequence of digital footprints, but a visible reputation can be bad if the digital traces reflect poorly on the person. For example, an employer might see a derisive social media post that somebody made and choose not to hire that person.
• Targeted advertising. Marketers can use someone's digital footprint to market to that person based on their digital twin or digital identity. An internet user leaves digital traces that provide preference insights. Behavioral targeting uses these inferences to feed the user advertisements.
• Hacking. A hacker could use information from a user's digital footprint to exploit them through identity theft or attack other computer systems. Exposed usernames and passwords could give hackers access to user accounts, and visible email addresses could be used to construct spear phishing campaigns.

• identifying internet-facing infrastructure to determine the contents of the attack surface
• auditing the assets contained in internet-facing infrastructure; and
• performing standard security processes, such as vulnerability testing and patch management.

Types of digital footprint

1. Active digital footprints consist of data that a user leaves intentionally. The user is also aware of the digital trace they leave behind because they have deliberately submitted information. An example of this would be a social media post or phone call. In both cases, they leave a digital history that they are aware of.
2. Passive digital footprints are composed of data a user leaves behind unintentionally on the internet. Website visits and actions, searches and online purchases are among the online activities that add passive data traces to a digital footprint. Passive footprints are harder to track and manage because they can be collected without user consent. When a hacker collects data about a targeted system, it is known as footprinting

Examples of digital footprint

• Biometric data
• Geolocation data
• IP addresses
• Passwords and login information
• Subscriptions
• Health information
• Fitness data
• Phone numbers
• License plate numbers
• Social posts
• Phone calls
• Email addresses
• Usernames
• Passwords
• Search history
• Sensor data
• Payment details
• Credit card numbers
• Downloads
• Purchase history
• Cookies
• Images from surveillance devices

• Online banking
• Social media
• Reading the news
• Fitness trackers
• Health care apps

How to reduce your digital footprint

• Check footprint online. Users can search their own names on Google or another search engine to see what comes up. Have I Been Pwned is another service that tells users if their sensitive data is public.
• Delete old accounts. Old social media accounts hold information that may not reflect the user anymore.
• Share only what is necessary. Avoid oversharing on social media -- even in more private social media features, such as messenger apps. Think of posting anywhere on social as permanently publishing something. Even after deleting, there is still a record of the post somewhere.
• Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN can help protect digital footprints by masking IP addresses and making online activity harder to trace.
• Visit secure websites. Websites with encryption add an extra layer of safety and online privacy while browsing. Users can tell a website is secure by looking at the URL to see if it begins with https rather than http.
• Adjust application privacy settings. Go through application privacy settings to opt out of settings that share more information than desired.
• Compartmentalize business and personal accounts. If possible, try and use separate accounts to limit visibility at work and control online perception.
• Practice cyber hygiene. Learn how to avoid common phishing or malware attacks that could proliferate personal data. Regularly clean up and back up data to avoid data breaches.