Have you ever searched for your first and last name in a search engine or social network? In addition to being interested to know our digital identity, it is very useful to eliminate information that does not interest us.
Finding out what’s on the Internet about yourself is quite common. This activity is known as egosurfing: it is enough to enter our first and last names into a search engine to discover details about our digital identity. This task, in addition to entertaining, is very important. Knowing the web’s results allows us to take care of and preserve our online reputation.
For this reason, the Internet User Security Office (OSI), part of the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE), recommends carrying it out periodically. Sometimes our data may have been leaked without our consent on the Internet., which is a violation of our privacy. You must follow these steps to carry out egosurfing, and if you detect the information you do not like or consider inappropriate, you can request its removal.
What is ‘egosurfing’?
Egosurfing is the activity of tracking our digital identity on the Internet. The easiest way to do this is by entering our first and last name in a search engine like Google or Bing or a social network like Facebook or YouTube. We can also enter our ID number, address (postal or electronic) or other data associated with our person, such as our place of work.
The results we get may be information we already know about, either because it is public or because we have personally provided it or authorized third parties to share it. However, we can also be surprised when we discover content or images (photos or videos) whose publication we were unaware of.
How to do ‘egosurfing’?
The Internet User Safety Office reported different ways to practice egosurfing. These three are the most common:
Google Alerts
This Google tool allows you to configure the sending of notifications to our email about topics of our interest. To use it, you have to follow the following steps:
- Access this link or search for ‘Google Alerts’ directly in the search engine.
- Introduce in the search bar the concept or terms on which we want to establish the alert.
The most common searches for personal data are:
- Name and surname/s, in quotation marks.
- Surname/s followed by the name, separated by a comma and in quotation marks.
- First and last name, in quotes, plus the city, outside the quotes.
- Postal address (street and number) in quotation marks.
- Postal address, in quotes, and city, outside the quotes.
- Email address.
- Telephone number (with or without spaces and hyphens).
- DNI, including the letter, in quotation marks.
All these options are customizable. For example, we can choose when to receive notifications, if we prefer to group them, if we want them to be in one or more languages, or even specify the geographical area we intend to search.
Seekers
Not only is it the easiest way to track our digital identity, but it is also the most widely used. In addition to being able to type any of the above options to find out what information exists about us online, we can perform image searches. This way, we will access the photos or videos we have shared and those we have tagged.
In addition to Google, it is important to verify what has been published about us in other search engines such as Yahoo!, Bing, and Lycos. It is also advisable to check lesser-known search engines such as Ecosia, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Baidu or Ask.
Social networks, forums, contact websites and other platforms
Social media is where we must share information about ourselves, both public and private. Comments, photos, videos, statuses, pages we like… everything remains within reach of others if we do not properly configure the privacy options on social networks.
Carrying out egosurfing on social networks, forums, contact websites, and other platforms is very simple. We must enter our full name, username, email or other identifying information in the search engine. In return, we can find out if there are fake profiles that impersonate us using our descriptions, personal data or photos.
How can we remove information from the Internet that we disagree with?
Egosurfing can reveal surprising information about us. We will likely find data that we did not know or even information that we had shared in the past but had already forgotten. In these cases, we can remove it and prevent it from appearing in future searches. The way to act will depend on how that information affects us:
Social networks
It is important to regularly review our published information and remove what is no longer relevant. It is essential to configure privacy options and restrict strangers’ access to our profiles to maintain privacy. In addition, we can organize our contacts into groups to have greater control over who can access what information and prevent being labelled without our consent.
You must inform the corresponding social network if you find a fake profile impersonating your identity. Most platforms allow you to report these fake accounts.
Exercise the right to be forgotten.
When any information that affects our digital identity or reputation is published by third parties, such as companies or other institutions, we can exercise the right to digital oblivion to remove it from search engines. This involves contacting the search engines and requesting the removal of the links that contain the information.
The National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE) offers its Cybersecurity Helpline, through the number 017, to assist in any problem related to your devices’ security, privacy and protection.
What other ways are there to control our digital identity?
In addition to egosurfing, there is another series of useful actions to control our digital identity and prevent someone from usurping our data or impersonating us. These are:
Public Wi-Fi networks
They tend to be insecure. To protect our privacy, it is advisable to use a VPN, which will secure our digital identity and prevent unauthorized access to our data.
Passwords
Using passwords of at least 16 characters that include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters is recommended. It is important to avoid repeating passwords for different accounts and to change them regularly. In addition, it is convenient to use a password manager instead of memorizing or writing them down.
Permission and privacy policies
Before using social networks, software, programs or applications, reading and understanding their privacy policies and the permissions they request is crucial. It is the way to make informed decisions about what information we want to be published about us.
Software updates
They often include security and protection enhancements, so installing browser and antivirus updates as soon as they’re available is essential.
