What is Digital Footprint Management?

Cybersecurity risks are a bit like icebergs. While you're busy monitoring a small percentage of your visible digital activity, a much larger, more complicated journey is taking place deep beneath the surface.

An average person generates 2 megabytes of data per second. User data, instant messages, browser activity, online forms and media content combine into a river of sensitive information being generated, stored, and shared without user oversight or knowledge.

As cyber threats increase, understanding and limiting your digital footprint becomes key in reducing your exposure and eliminating many risks associated with data breaches and social engineering attacks.

What is a digital footprint?

Your digital footprint refers to the trail of information you generate when creating, sharing, or storing any digital data. It includes websites you visit, emails you send, and information you submit online. Most of your digital footprint is often not accessible to you but instead stored in third-party servers and databases. Therefore, it's vital to understand how your data is being preserved and potentially exposed to cybersecurity threats.

At the same time, the rise of cloud computing makes managing your digital footprint significantly more critical. SaaS applications and cloud databases have become ubiquitous at home and work, spreading your sensitive information far more quickly and making it nearly impossible to track or secure.

Why do digital footprints matter?

Your digital footprint is primarily permanent, and it grows daily. Most data is shared without default restrictions, meaning other parties retain a copy even if you delete information from your devices. Since the future is uncertain, it's best to avoid granting perpetual access to your sensitive information unless necessary.

More specifically, cybercriminals profit from exploiting personal or corporate digital footprints. Identity theft, phishing attacks, and ransomware are all predicated on a hacker's ability to access your sensitive information. The larger your digital footprint, the more likely you'll be subject to a successful attack.

Finally, for companies that store customer data, tracking exactly how this data is being harvested, stored and used is critical. You'll need to comply with privacy and data protection laws and ensure that stored data remains secure. Limiting your digital footprint as much as possible (while continuing to support your IT and business needs) makes it much easier and less costly to handle safely while simultaneously reducing your risk of data leaks and reputational damage.

Reducing your digital footprint with SharePass

One of the most effective strategies to limit your digital footprint is data wiping; that is, regularly reviewing and deleting any data that is no longer relevant, safe, or necessary. However, fewer than 5% of companies report having an effective data-wiping process. Even worse, data wiping rarely accounts for sensitive information downloaded to a third-party application or database.

With SharePass, data wiping occurs automatically and proactively. Every time new data is shared, it is tagged with a customizable time-to-live along with various controls limiting who, when, and where it is accessible. Rather than generating and sharing information blindly, SharePass allows you to set custom controls based on an IP address, PIN, or even facial recognition. This way, data wiping occurs automatically, destroying any digital footprint.

SharePass also provides a central portal to track how your data is accessed and allows you to edit your permissions or delete your data at any time from any device.

SharePass's digital footprint manager keeps you and your customers safe even in the worst-case scenario.

Don't risk it. SharePass it!