Leaving a Trail of Clues


Who poses the greatest threat to your anonymity online? In most cases, it's probably you, a family member, or a close friend. The fact that it's not some faceless stranger putting your information out there is good news, because it means that by learning a few simple guidelines, you can have more control over some of the information that might appear online.

You often unknowingly leak valuable clues to your identity through a wide variety of actions. For example, an e-mail address might clearly identify you, allowing those lurking online to find you with no sophisticated hacking required. Peter15surfer@theReef.au provides a name, an age, a hobby to help strike up a conversation, and the fact that he lives near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. For someone targeting a certain demographic, this would be enough to get their attention.

This trail of clues is not limited to your Internet activities on your computer. Consider, for example, that if you send a text message from your cell phone, your phone number is included with the message as part of the address. You or your child might think you are keeping your identity, location, or contact information safe when you're text messaging someone you don't know or trust, but in reality you are broadcasting valuable information to everyone who sees the message.

Posting information that is available only to close friends or family doesn't pose an increased threat because they already know where you live, what you look like, and how to contact you. On the other hand, your anonymity is at risk any time you post personally identifiable information (often referred to as PII) such as your name, address, or photo, or whenever you post indirectly identifiable information such as the name of your school, your street, or your sports team in an online forum available to the general public. Cybercriminals can collect these pieces of information to discern your location, habits, interests, age, and more.

What can somebody do with that information? The answer is anything they want. They might sell it to others, steal your identity, commit fraud and ruin your credit, come to your house and rob it, or attempt to assault you or your child, for example.

Find Out More

See Chapter 4, "Step 1: Be Careful What You Show People," for more about how and where you might be inadvertently revealing information about yourself through photos, videos, and other visual clues.




Look Both Ways. Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
Look Both Ways: Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
ISBN: 0735623473
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 157
Authors: Linda Criddle

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