What is a digital footprint?
Just as we all leave a carbon footprint, we also have a digital footprint. Every search we make, site we visit, post we like and song we download leaves a data trail behind.
This data reveals a lot about us, from our likes and dislikes to our religious and political beliefs, sexual orientation, medical conditions and income. That’s valuable intel that people are prepared to pay good money for.
How much data do we produce?
According to a report by the cloud software firm Domo, every 60 seconds, Facebook users like 4m posts, streamers watch 43 years’ worth of content and Airbnb guests book 747 stays. All told, a single internet user produces on average 146,880MB of data per day.
Why does data security matter?
While legitimate businesses use anonymised data to create targeted ads and improve the browsing experience, some unscrupulous operators bypass legal routes to buy personal data from data brokers. These are companies or individuals who harvest, analyse and trade personal data, selling to third parties without our consent.
This leaves users exposed to privacy and security concerns, including cold calls, scams, spam, cyber-attacks and identity theft.
