Understanding Digital Footprints for Professionals

What is a Digital Footprint?

Whether they think about it or not, every professional leaves behind traces of their online activity. This trail, known as a digital footprint, is made up of the data you create and leave behind as you browse, shop, work, and communicate online. For business owners and managers, it’s important to understand what your digital footprint is, how it might be scrutinised, and how you can manage it effectively to avoid potential risks.

Why Does Your Digital Footprint Matter at Work?

Your digital footprint is more than just an abstract concept—it’s a reflection of your online reputation. While it may seem like a distant concern, it has very real implications for your professional life, your business, and even your security. Here’s why you should care:

Professional Reputation: Employers, potential clients, and business partners may search for you or your company online before making a decision. They could find your LinkedIn profile, old social media posts, or even forums you commented on years ago. A poorly managed digital footprint might damage your reputation without you realising it.

Recruitment & Hiring: If you’re in the process of hiring or being recruited, recruiters are likely to check your digital footprint. Social media posts, blog comments, and forum activity can all be scrutinised. Anything unprofessional might hinder your chances, even if it’s from years ago.

Privacy & Security Risks: Your digital footprint can also reveal more than you might like, leaving you or your business vulnerable to scams, phishing, and identity theft. The more information scammers can gather about you, the easier it becomes for them to impersonate you or manipulate your employees.

How to Find Your Digital Footprint

Many professionals don’t even realise what information is publicly available about them. Here are some practical steps you can take to check your digital footprint:

1. Google Yourself

Start by entering your name into Google. Be sure to try variations, such as your full name, nickname, or your business name. For more precise results, use quotation marks around your name, e.g., “John Smith”.

Don’t forget to check the results in: Web search, Images, Videos and News. For a thorough check, search your name across different browsers and make sure you search for any other names you may have been known by historically.

2. Social Media

Go through your social media profiles on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (known as X), and Instagram. Review both the content you’ve posted and any posts where you’ve been tagged by others.

Here’s how to check*:

• LinkedIn: Head to “Settings & Privacy,” then navigate to “Visibility” and select “Profile viewing options” to see how your profile appears to others.
• Facebook: Use the “Privacy Checkup” under “Settings & Privacy” for a guided review of your privacy settings and posts.

3. Data Brokers

Websites like 192.com or Whitepages collect and store public information about individuals. You can search for yourself on these platforms, and many offer the option to request the removal of your data.

4. Your Browser History and Cookies

Your browser history, cookies, and cache store a lot of information about your online activity. While these features can enhance your browsing experience, such as speeding up page loading times and remembering your preferences, they also contribute to your digital footprint. Clearing these regularly can help protect your privacy and reduce your digital footprint.

Here’s how you can manage your browser history and cookies on common browsers*:

Google Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and click on the three dots in the top-right corner.
2. Select History > History.
3. On the left-hand side, click Clear browsing data.
4. Choose the time range (e.g., “Last hour,” “Last 24 hours,” “All time”) and check the boxes for:

• Browsing history
• Cookies and other site data
• Cached images and files

1. Click Clear data.

To manage cookies:

• Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data. Here, you can choose to block third-party cookies, delete all cookies when you close the browser, or set specific sites to always clear cookies when you exit.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Firefox and click the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
2. Select History > Clear Recent History.
3. Choose the time range and the types of data to clear:

• Browsing & download history
• Cookies
• Cache

1. Click OK to confirm.

For cookie management:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data. Here, you can choose to delete cookies when Firefox is closed, block certain sites from storing cookies, or manage specific sites’ data.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Open Edge and click on the three dots in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings > Privacy, search, and services.
3. Under Clear browsing data, click Choose what to clear.
4. Select the time range and check the boxes for:

• Browsing history
• Cookies and other site data
• Cached images and files

1. Click Clear now.

To manage cookies:

• Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Cookies and other site data, where you can block cookies from certain sites, manage exceptions, and more.

Scams and Fraud—How Your Digital Footprint Can Be Exploited

Many professionals aren’t aware that scammers actively use digital footprints to launch attacks. Here are some common ways your digital trail could be used against you:

Phishing emails or messages are designed to trick you into providing sensitive information. Scammers often customise these attacks based on the information they’ve gathered from your digital footprint, making them look more convincing. For example, if they know you’re interested in a particular service, they might send an email pretending to represent that company.

Information like your name, job title, or even a social media profile picture can be enough for a cybercriminal to piece together your identity. This can lead to financial fraud, unauthorised access to your accounts, or damage to your personal and professional reputation.

Social engineering attacks use personal information to manipulate people into revealing confidential data or performing actions like transferring money. By researching your digital footprint, scammers can impersonate colleagues or trusted business contacts.

Example: One widely reported case involved fraudsters who used LinkedIn to impersonate business professionals and target their network with fraudulent job offers. In another case, a CEO transferred money to a scammer posing as a senior employee—thanks to the personal details obtained from the digital footprint.

How to Clean Up and Protect Your Digital Footprint

Now that you understand the risks, it’s time to take action. Here are some straightforward ways to clean up your digital footprint and protect yourself from future issues:

Delete Old Accounts We all have old accounts on websites or services we no longer use. To remove your data from these sites:

• Visit the platform, log in, and look for the option to delete your account.
• If you struggle to find it, use tools like JustDelete.Me, which provide direct links to account deletion pages.

Update Your Privacy Settings Make sure your privacy settings are up to date on all social media platforms. Most platforms regularly update their privacy policies, so it’s important to review your settings periodically to ensure that only people you trust can see your posts and personal information.

Regularly Clean Up Your Content Delete any posts, comments, or images that may be inappropriate or unprofessional, even if they’re old. Don’t forget to untag yourself from any questionable posts made by others.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your accounts. Even if someone gets hold of your password, they won’t be able to access your account without the second authentication factor (usually a code sent to your phone).

How Your Digital Footprint Could Expose Your Passwords

Many professionals unknowingly leave clues about their personal lives in their digital footprint—clues that could be used by cybercriminals to crack passwords. Common password choices, like the name of your favourite football team, birthdates, or even your children’s names, are often scattered across social media profiles or public records.

Cybercriminals know that many people use personal information to create passwords. If your social media profile contains, or you’ve made any posts ever about, your important birthdays, anniversaries, family, pets, or favourite sports teams, these could be the first things a hacker tries when attempting to break into your accounts.

2024 Password Best Practices

In light of this, businesses should adopt stronger password practices to protect their accounts from being compromised. The 2024 best practice for password creation involves each of these three steps every time a password is called for:

• Three unique, unrelated words: Combining three completely unrelated words creates a strong password that’s difficult to guess.
  • Example: Instead of “ChelseaFootball1975”, choose something like “AppleRockShelf.”
• Unrelated numbers and characters: Add random numbers and special characters that aren’t linked to your personal details.
  • Example: “AppleRockShelf76!@” is stronger than any name-based password because of ‘dictionary attacks’.
• Use a different password for every platform: This ensures that even if one password is exposed, your other accounts remain safe.

It’s not realistic to remember multiple complex passwords, which is why we recommend using a password manager. A reputable password manager will: Store and encrypt your passwords securely, Generate strong passwords for each platform and Autofill login credentials without needing to remember each one.

For businesses, strong password policies are non-negotiable. Weak passwords expose not only personal accounts but can also lead to data breaches, reputational damage, and even financial losses. Implementing company-wide use of a password manager is one of the simplest and most effective steps to strengthen your cybersecurity.

Consider the case of John, a working professional who frequently posts on social media about his children and his love for his favourite football club. His password, “Chelsea1975”, is easy to crack because hackers used information available publicly from his Facebook profile and guessed the year of his birth from public messages of congratulations on his ‘big birthday’ last September. Had John used a password like “BlueDoorSky29$%” instead, his accounts would have been far more secure.

Take Control of Your Digital Footprint

Managing your digital footprint doesn’t need to be overwhelming, but it’s a crucial step for maintaining both personal privacy and professional reputation. By following these steps, you’ll reduce the risk of scams, fraud, and reputational damage. As a professional, taking control of your online presence will not only protect you but also reflect positively on your business.

Further Reading: How bad Facebook security can be a business nightmare