Keeping our personal information protected is very important to avoid problems that may affect us. However, attackers can use different methods to spoof our identity. We are going to talk about how personal data could be stolen on the Internet and what we can do to prevent it.
Methods for collecting personal data
The techniques they can use are different. It must be taken into account that not only will they be able to know our phone number, email or where we live through malware attacks, but many times it is the users themselves who make the information public without realizing it and it is available to anyone .
Google search
A simple search on any service like Google could give information to a hypothetical attacker. Sometimes we write our data in comments on web pages or any platform open to anyone and that allows a search to give those results.
If someone does a Google search with our full name, they may even be able to see our ID if we have appeared in a public list, where we live and other information that we have shown by mistake at some point.
Social media
Without a doubt, social networks are also a source of information. There we can put data of all kinds, such as where we live, where we work or study, our phone number, e-mail … A large amount of data that can be exposed.
Keep in mind that some social networks may be open to anyone, without having to be our contact, to collect that information.
Open Internet Forums
Also through forums on the net they could find personal data that we have left on occasion. For example, if we have made a query to learn about something in particular, we could have exposed the e-mail address or some data that can be used to impersonate our identity.
The network is full of pages and services that we can use in our day to day. Sometimes we are not aware that any user or even bots could see what we have written.
Dark web
Cybercriminals have their resources to steal all kinds of information and impersonate the victims. In the Dark Web there are many forums and sites where they even trade with this data. You can find information about the DNI, passport, bank cards …
Without a doubt, the Dark Web is a widely used source for an attacker who wants to impersonate a user. That is where more information can come to be.
Tips to prevent them from finding our data
We have seen some main methods that they can use to steal personal data and even go so far as to spoof our identity. Now we are going to mention some essential tips that we can take into account to prevent this from happening.
Avoid posting personal data
Something very important is to avoid making personal information public . For example, we should not write in open forums and give our email, full name, phone number … That information could be available to anyone just by doing a search.
This is certainly very important advice. We could write in a place where we think nothing is going to happen, but in reality at a given moment it could be accessible to an attacker or bots.
Protect equipment
It is also necessary to indicate the importance of keeping the devices always protected . You must have a good antivirus that can prevent the entry of malware, as well as other tools such as firmware or even extensions for the browser.
All of this will help us avoid cyber attacks that compromise our privacy and security. So our data will always be safe.
Don’t log into insecure networks
Today we can find wireless networks almost anywhere. However, we must be careful with which Wi-Fi networks we are going to use to log in. If for example we are connected in one in an airport or shopping center, we do not really know who may be behind.
That is why it is important not to log into platforms where we are going to expose personal data. They could be stolen by a third party and pose a problem for our privacy.
