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How Much Do We Reveal Our Personal Information Online?
These days, we share more and more personal details about ourselves online — whether intentional or not. You may think that you are anonymous as you browse websites, but pieces of information about you are always left behind.
This information can include browsing behaviors, but more importantly, it could also include personally identifiable information, which can potentially be exploited by criminals for identity theft.
Luckily, the information revealed about you can be reduced by taking a few simple measures. Below is an overview created by US-CERT to help you minimize your risk of revealing too much.
What information is collected?
When you visit a website, a certain amount of information is automatically sent to the site. This information may include the following:
• IP address - Each computer on the internet is assigned a specific, unique IP (internet protocol) address. Your computer may have a static IP address or a dynamic IP address. If you have a static IP address, it never changes. However, some ISPs own a block of addresses and assign an open one each time you connect to the internet — this is a dynamic IP address.
• Domain name - The internet is divided into domains, and every user's account is associated with one of those domains. You can identify the domain by looking at the end of URL; for example, .edu indicates an educational institution, .gov indicates a US government agency, .org refers to organization, and .com is for commercial use.
• Software details - An organization is usually able to determine which browser you used to access its site. The organization may also be able to determine what operating system your computer is running.
• Page visits - Information about which pages you visited, how long you stayed on a given page, and whether you came to the site from a search engine is often also available to the organization operating the website.
How is this information used?
Generally, organizations use the information that is gathered automatically for legitimate purposes, such as generating statistics about their sites. By analyzing the statistics, the organizations can better understand the popularity of the site and which areas of content are being accessed the most. They may be able to use this information to modify the site to better support the behavior of the people visiting it.
However, some sites may collect your information for malicious purposes. If attackers are able to access files, passwords, or personal information on your computer, they may be able to use this data to their advantage. The attackers may be able to steal your identity, using and abusing your personal information for financial gain.
A common practice is for attackers to use this type of information once or twice, then sell or trade it to other people. The attackers profit from the sale or trade, and increasing the number of transactions makes it more difficult to trace any activity back to them. The attackers may also alter the security settings on your computer so that they can access and use your computer for other malicious activity.
How can you limit the amount of information collected about you?
• Be careful supplying personal information - Unless you trust a site, don't give your address, password, or credit card information. Look for indications that the site uses SSL to encrypt your information.
• Limit cookies - If an attacker can access your computer, he or she may be able to find personal data stored in cookies. You may not realize the extent of the information stored on your computer until it is too late.
• Browse safely - Be careful which websites you visit; if it seems suspicious, leave the site. Also make sure to take precautions by increasing your security settings, keeping your virus definitions up to date, and scanning your computer for spyware.