What is a Digital Footprint​? Understanding Yours and Why It Matters

Even with all our time spent online these days, it’s easy to just forget about a digital footprint… until something goes wrong, of course. 

If (or when) the unfortunate happens and your account is hacked, an unbecoming old photo resurfaces, or your phone number ends up on an annoying spam list, the internet suddenly starts to feel less abstract. 

What is a Digital Footprint?

In the simplest terms, a digital footprint is a trail of information that we all leave behind nearly every time we are online. Sometimes it’s social media posts and online purchases, and other times it’s downloads, comments, and even data that websites collect on you in the background. 

The two types of digital footprints include:

• Active footprints, which are the pieces of information that we share intentionally. This could be filling out an online form, posting a reel on instagram, or sending emails. 
• Passive footprints, which is the collected information that might not be on your radar such as website tracking cookies, location data, device information, search history, and metadata. 

Both types of digital footprints are worth being informed about so that you always have an awareness of your online presence and its risks. 

How a Digital Footprint is Created

You might think that you don’t do much to leave a trace of your online presence but our digital footprints build slowly. Think of it as a cumulative effect each time you create a new account, share your phone number, install a new app, accept cookies, or connect to public WiFi. Each of these actions add to the picture of your online profile. 

Companies who are tracking this information to use in advertising or analytics and data brokers can aggregate the data across multiple platforms. Eventually, your email address, phone number, location, and other preferences can all become part of a database you didn’t even know you belong to and never consciously agreed to join.  

These data sets aren’t necessarily always malicious, but they are important to keep on your radar. 

Why Your Digital Footprint Matters

• Privacy – the more data about your private life that is publicly available, the easier it is for strangers or companies to piece together a picture of your life.
• Security – your personal details can be used against you in phishing attacks, SIM scams, and other account takeovers.
• Reputation – once upon a time, we didn’t really understand that the internet is forever, forever. Cringey old posts or images can resurface after decades. 
• Spam or scams – your phone number and email often end up on marketing lists (at best) and other types of annoying spam.

The larger your digital footprint, the larger your risk for attack.  

The Real Risks

Most of the time any real risks of your digital footprint stay hidden. Instead of appearing immediately after sharing some data, the danger accumulates quietly. It might include identity theft, doxxing, account recovery scams, or unwanted contact with strangers. 

Don’t fall victim to thinking that your phone number is safe as long as you screen your calls. IF you use it to sign up for something, it becomes a link tying your accounts together.  

Reduce Your Digital Exposure

You don’t need to turn yourself into an ogre and retreat to the swamp to protect your identity. Instead, just take a few intentional and practical steps:

• Use strong and unique passwords
• Enable multi-factor authentication
• Be mindful about your public posts
• Review privacy settings
• Avoid real-time location updates
• Use a private secondary number for online purposes

With a Hushed online number, you can communicate freely without exposing your personal data. If you feel like you’ve provided it and it’s receiving spam or linked to something unintentionally, just scrap it and get a new one. 

There’s no need to erase your footprint but with Husehd you can certainly keep it safe.