How to Erase Yourself From The Internet – A Comprehensive Guide

Imagine this: a bad actor gains access to your phone number, a critical piece of personal data that’s often readily available online. Armed with this information, they quickly and efficiently swap your sim or hijack your digits to access your online accounts, including your most sensitive financial data, social media presence, and other online platforms. 

In today’s increasingly expansive threat landscape where bad actors don’t have to be especially talented or sophisticated to gain access to valuable personal information, this scenario isn’t far-fetched. It’s the reality for millions of people each year who suffer from identity theft, financial fraud, and other cybercrimes because of the easily-accessible nature of their personal information. 

Taking back your privacy isn’t easy, but it is possible. Here’s what you need to know about today’s data environment and how you can erase yourself from the internet.

Publicly-available personal data online poses real risks to today’s internet users. Some threats are obvious while others are more difficult to detect and defend: 

• Identity theft. In 2020, the number of identity theft cases tripled from 2018 levels, reaching 1,386,615, an all-time high. Fraud cases are increasing, in part, because forging identities is relatively easy when so much personal information is accessible through a Google search. Some of this data may seem innocent (who would think that your mother’s name posted by a people-search site could cause any harm?), but a social engineer can use it to try and reset an account password. All they have to do is to match an answer to a typical security question about your mother’s maiden name. Once bad actors access an account, the cascading consequences can extend to financial records and other important platforms.Removing your personal information from the internet doesn’t guarantee that you won’t be the victim of identity theft, but it does make it more difficult for threat actors to successfully execute fraud attempts.
  
  
• Threat to your reputation. Data brokers are interested in data volume, not accuracy. It’s common for personal records to be merged with other information, meaning you can get false information like someone else’s criminal records attributed to your own name. But even if people-search sites have no criminal, traffic, or sex offender records of yours, their shady advertising practices may suggest you have them by posting deceptive teasers to your online report in an attempt to convince people to subscribe to their services.
  
  
• Real-life stalking. In 2019, a Forbes headline warned, “Social media is fostering a big rise in real-world stalking.” Since the report, social media popularity has surged, creating more opportunities for bad actors to use online information to stalk victims in real life while also exposing them to swatting, doxxing, and other digital information-driven crimes with real-world implications.
   
• Phishing. Phishing scams surged during the recent pandemic, reaching peoples’ inboxes with malicious messages that can compromise account integrity, financial security, and data privacy. These threats are easy to execute, difficult to detect, and nearly-impossible to punish. As a result, threat actors can use available information to craft convincing emails that prompt user engagement, stealing personal and financial information along the way. The Federal Trade Commission helpfully identifies several signs of a phishing attempt, including messages that:
  
  
  • say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts
  • claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information
  • urge you to confirm some personal information
  • include a fake invoice
  • want you to click on a link to make a payment
  • say you’re eligible to register for a government refund
  • offer a coupon for free stuff.
    
    
• Marketing spam. Robocallers, spam calls, targeted advertisers, and spammers all rely on personal information to power their practices. Removing your personal information from the internet makes it more difficult for marketing spam to disrupt your digital environment, invade your privacy, or worse.