If you find that your personal data has leaked online you may be wondering, how did this happen?
In today’s world of data sharing and personalized digital services, it’s no wonder that your information is floating around out there. No matter how careful you are, it’s likely that at one point or another your personal data has been harvested by data aggregator sites or online data brokers.
According to Incogni one of the leading personal data removal services, “every time someone accepts cookies, downloads an app, or even just visits a website, data brokers may harvest their personal information.” Once they have your information, these sites can freely sell or share your personal data with anyone.
In the U.S., the most egregious type of data brokers are known as “people search” sites. They allow anyone to search for an individual and obtain sensitive information such as their name, age, date of birth, home address, and phone number. For mere pocket-change, these sites can help facilitate nefarious activities such as stalking and identity fraud.
So that’s how your data leaked. The question then becomes, how do you remove it from these types of websites?
Fortunately, most “people search” sites allow you to opt out of sharing your information. To do this you can go about it two ways: personally request opt-outs or use a removal service to opt out for you.
If you decide to go it alone, you’ll need to track down every databroker with your information and request opt-outs from each of them. This process is time consuming and even when you’re finished, you’ll need to periodically check back in the future to make sure your data hasn’t resurfaced. It’s possible to do all of this on your own, but the time and effort it takes can make it feel like a full-time job.
The other option is to use a personal data removal service and let them do the tedious work of opting out for you. These services automate the process by regularly sending requests to data brokers on your behalf. Your data is not only then removed, but continues to stay off these data broker sites in the future.
Therefore, it’s advisable to go with a data removal service. There are a few such services, but Incogni stands apart from the rest. Their trusted team of cybersecurity experts fully automate the data removal process for you and ensure continued privacy. They also offer wider market coverage than competitors by sweeping your data from all types of data brokers, not just “people search” sites.
In the end, if your home address or other personal data leaks on the internet, there are two solutions. But doing it on your own can take hundreds of hours and for most of us, in our already busy lives, that’s not an option. So save yourself the trouble and subscribe to a data removal service like Incogni, then kick back and let them do the work for you.
This way for 50% off the purchase price, and further reading.