Digital footprints on the internet are essentially impossible to erase. They can become a tool of cyber attack, warns the ministry.
Every user's presence on the internet creates a vast digital footprint filled with personal data. This information has significant marketing value and is frequently traded. Erasing these trails is very difficult and essentially impossible. Leftover personal data is a source of cyber attacks, which are becoming increasingly common, and the Ministry of the Interior and Czech Police also recommend taking preventive measures.
Today, it would probably be hard to find a person who doesn't regularly surf the internet. However, movement on the global network is not an anonymous activity. Websites store a whole range of data about their users. The remnants of these records are called a digital footprint. On one hand, it allows for smooth operation and access to the free world of information, on the other hand, digital footprints are a valuable commercial item and unfortunately also a source of cybercrime.
Just like human psyche has its conscious and unconscious part, we create digital footprints aware that certain data are being generated (typically writing messages, saving photos, logging in or posting in discussion forums). If we don't want to leave a wide information trail behind us, the above activities can be limited, but in the case of writing emails, it is very difficult to completely omit them.
An even more complicated situation prevails around the unconscious part of the digital footprint. Information is stored almost without the user's own knowledge. It primarily concerns data related to IP addresses, terms entered into search engines or data on the time spent on individual websites (that's what famous cookies do). Thorough erasure in this case essentially equals complete disconnection from the internet.
Fraudulent investments are currently fueled by digital footprints
Digital footprints usually also belong to people who can extricate themselves from the snares of the internet. Because they do not have control over the fact that their digital footprint is shaped by other users. An example could be the storage of a group photo without the knowledge of all people present. All it takes is taking pictures on site with a larger number of unknown people. Such "without consent" photos are produced massively not only in touristically exposed locations.
Probably only a few didn't notice the situation when they are browsing some goods in an e-shop and soon advertisements with this product start popping up on all possible websites. This is exactly what the most common marketing use of digital footprint looks like. Global companies like Meta (Facebook, Instagram ...) or Alphabet (Google, YouTube ...) have built their earnings on this approach, which has brought them among the most expensive companies in the world.
Personalized advertising is indeed very effective and brings profits to both merchants and data collection intermediaries (typically the aforementioned tech giants), but in the end it's just about buying the goods at a different address than originally intended. They can also be a source of worse internet crime.
"The digital footprint we leave behind can become a tool for cyber attacks. Whether it's phishing, fraudulent investments, or careless sharing of sensitive information. Prevention, education, and any other activity that helps create a safer digital world, is therefore important,"
warns also the current Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN).
We are 99% identifiable on the internet
Although we are easily traceable according to our digital activities and it is nearly impossible to completely erase our steps, it does not mean that we have nothing left but to resign in this direction. The first step in prevention lies in the area of consciously creating a digital footprint
"What we consider a harmless contribution can be a source of future problems that threaten not only us but also our loved ones. Privacy protection begins with caution - the more carefully we consider what we share, the better we protect ourselves and our loved ones from the often underestimated risks of a digital footprint,"
recommends Zuzana Pidrmanová, the head of the Crime Prevention Department of the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.
This is certainly not an abstract matter. According to the standard digital footprint, we are identifiable 90 to 99%. To protect personal data, we can use a whole range of other steps: use VPN, delete old user profiles, not use public Wi-Fi networks (which hackers often target), pay attention to permissions given to apps, and use the anonymous mode of the browser. A number of steps require advanced knowledge of working with information technology, but everyone can think about what we share on social networks.
Sources: author's text, PR, Ministry of the Interior, Totalservice.cz, Internetembezpečně.cz
