Delete Your Internet Footprint

With spies lurking everywhere, how can you keep yourself safe? Here are 25 smart steps, from the editor of HowtoGeek.com.

- By Chris Hoffman

As the saying goes: The Internet is forever. Once you’ve put something online—a credit card number, a silly photo, a heat-of the-moment comment on social media—it can come back to haunt you.

But what are the risks, really? “There are two worst-case scenarios,” says Thorin Klosowski, privacy and security editor at Wirecutter, a product recommendation service owned by the New York Times. “The most obvious one is a security issue. Everyone’s e-mail address and basic details are leaked somewhere online, and if you reuse passwords, that means a nefarious person will have an easier time getting into your accounts.”

The problem is getting worse: Identity theft cases more than doubled in 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission, with reported monetary losses from fraud overall climbing to $3.3 billion from $1.8 billion in 2019.

“The second worst-case scenario is more primal: embarrassment,” says Klosowski. And sometimes the pricks to our pride are far more personal than blushing over an unflattering photo. “Many of us store our most intimate thoughts in a digital notes app, draft e-mails we never send or pour out our private feelings into a direct message to a friend. This is the type of thing that can get leaked online, either through a provider being negligent or through your own misunderstanding of the often-confusing privacy settings in the software and services.”

With these sorts of slip-ups, the stakes can be high. But you’re not powerless. You can stand up for your privacy and begin to take control, starting right now. Here’s how:

1 Mix Up Your Passwords