Ivaan Captieux, Information Security Consultant at Galix.

Our expanding digital footprint, including what we share on social media and via email, places us at growing risk of identity theft, data breaches, and cybercrime. Managing your online presence is critical to safeguarding your privacy and security, and it is imperative to take a proactive approach, including the use of robust cybersecurity best practices. However, these tools alone are not enough. Working with a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) can help both businesses and individuals securely manage their digital footprint and effectively mitigate the risk in an increasingly digital world.

Risky business

Having an extensive digital footprint comes with heightened risk, including identity theft. Many online interactions result in the capturing of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as an identity number, full name, date of birth, physical address, and more. Often, we give consent for this information to be shared, which reduces our privacy and enables companies to perform targeted advertising. In addition, if this data is not managed effectively, it is at risk of being captured and harvested by cybercriminals. When sensitive data is leaked or compromised, it can have lifelong repercussions, including negatively affecting your future job prospects and social standing.

Those with malicious intent can use this stolen information to carry out criminal or fraudulent activities, including taking out loans and opening accounts in your name, which can negatively affect your credit rating and leave you liable for bills you cannot afford to pay.

Aside from the direct impact of identity theft, criminals can also use this information, as well as information many people share freely on social media, such as the names of their children, the schools they go to, and the places they visit, to develop extremely convincing spearphishing attacks. Using a combination of personal information and Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybercriminals can create convincing deep fakes that can be used for a variety of nefarious purposes.

Proactive protection

The reality is that we need to be careful with the information we share online because anything we put into the public domain could potentially be stolen and used against us. Limiting the type of information you share online is always a smart move, especially on social media. When in doubt, don’t share it. There are also proactive measures you can take to manage your digital footprint more effectively. One thing we absolutely should be doing is using strong, unique passwords, because this significantly reduces the risk of an account being compromised. This can be tedious, but there are secure tools to assist, like password managers that generate and store them for you.

It is important to ensure we apply MultiFactor Authentication (MFA) wherever possible. This is considerably more secure than Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), which is becoming less effective as attacks evolve. While 2FA uses something you know (like a password) and something you have (like a one-time PIN), passwords are easily compromised – often because people choose easily guessed passwords or reuse them – and PINs can be intercepted. MFA adds another layer of security – something related to who you are (biometrics like fingerprints or facial recognition), which is far more difficult for cybercriminals to crack.

It is also essential to regularly review the privacy settings on any online platform we use. This can be time-consuming, but it is critical to reducing and managing our digital footprint.

Having a partner in your corner

Working with an MSSP can help individuals and businesses better manage and secure their digital footprints with a variety of products and services. For example, MSSPs can monitor the dark web for compromised personal information and alert individuals and businesses if their data is compromised. If a compromise is detected, an MSSP can also provide guidance and education on best practices and proactive steps to address the breach. They can also offer insight into how to prevent this from happening in the first place. MSSPs can assist in implementing data protection strategies that involve identifying and classifying sensitive information based on its sensitivity, as well as encrypting data both in transit and at rest. For organisations, MSSPs can also do vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify and address weaknesses in defence and help to prevent exploits that could compromise data.

Individuals (and many businesses) lack the budget and necessary skills and resources to effectively manage their digital presence. This can, in turn, result in a lack of security measures as well as a lack of visibility into the risks. MSSPs offer scalable solutions tailored to needs and budgets delivered with the specialised skills required to comprehensively and securely manage digital footprints of all shapes and sizes.