How to Be Invisible Online

I'm going to share seven things that we can all do to erase our digital footprint and regain some of our privacy. All of that and more ahead on The Secure Dad Podcast.

In the last decade, we've seen a steady rise in politically motivated online threats, especially during election cycles. Even though the presidential election has passed, the polarized political climate remains. Protecting your personal information online is more critical than ever. Your cell phone number, home address, and other personal data are being bought and sold by data broker websites.

This means anyone can easily find your details, putting your privacy and potentially your safety at risk. DeleteMe can help. They remove your personal information from these sites, making sure that your private details stay private. DeleteMe works to take back control of your information. I use DeleteMe because I know I can't protect my data on my own. There are too many data brokers and more pop up each month. I need someone to look out for me and my family. Take action now to protect yourself.

Visit JoinDeleteMe.com/Dad and use the discount code DAD at checkout for 20 percent off your privacy plan. DeleteMe is a proud sponsor of The Secure Dad Podcast. Fall means cooler weather, shorter days, and more time spent inside. It's also the season when break-ins can increase as daylight hours shrink. That's why now is the perfect time to evaluate your home's security, and FlipLok can help with that. When I first installed FlipLok, I knew I was adding an extra layer of protection to my home.

With its solid metal design and those strong 3 inch screws that anchor it right to the door frame, FlipLok can withstand 1,600 pounds of force. Plus, it's easy to use and blends in seamlessly with your door hardware, so you feel secure without any added hassle. Whether you're home for the holidays or just cozying up for a quiet evening, FlipLok will keep your home safe. It's more than just a lock. It's peace of mind.

To make your home even more secure this fall, head over to FlipLok.com and use the discount code SECUREDAD for 20 percent off your entire order. Stay safe this season with the added protection of FlipLok.

In today's world, our digital data has never been so important. Ironically, never has it been so easy to steal it. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I feel like the hackers have a leg up right now in 2024, and the good guys are having a hard time keeping up. We all know that the digital world has changed a lot since the Internet infancy when we could all browse anonymously and nobody knew what an IP address was.

Nowadays, data brokers, hackers, and even social media platforms are tracking our every move. But we are not helpless. There are actionable steps that we can take to reclaim our privacy.

I'm going to tell you how to be invisible online. First, I want you to rethink your email address. Recently, I had a person send me an advertising opportunity for The Secure Dad, but this email went to my personal inbox. And I've worked very hard to keep my work and my personal information separate. After a brief exchange with this person, he told me that he had hired two people to scrape LinkedIn for email addresses for business opportunities.

So my email address that I used to create a LinkedIn profile years before The Secure Dad was ever thought of is now being used against me. you don't know, social media data scraping is the process of extracting data from platforms, such as profiles, posts, comments, likes, followers, all that sort of stuff. And this is all done without our consent. Sometimes data scraping can be used legally. In this particular case, it was being used illegally.

This data can include both public information like usernames, and then sometimes private data like geolocation tags, and the email address or phone number you used to sign up for the platform. I suggest now that you create a private email that is just for family and avoid using it for social media and for online shopping, no matter how good the deal is, do not plug this new personal email address in to sign up for any sort of service. For extra privacy, I suggest that you check out Proton Mail.

It is secure, it's private, it has affordable options and free options. In their paid accounts, they actually have a suite of services that is a whole lot like the Google suite. So it's, it's really good, but it is security and privacy focused. So of course y'all know that I do not like data brokers. I don't like their existence. I don't like their business model. I don't like anything about it. And I don't like my personal data being sold to anybody who wants to buy it.

I want you to consider a data removal service here in 2024. Obviously, I know that Delete. me works, and I would suggest that to you. I've used them for years. It's been a huge help to me in keeping my information safe. While I know that things are expensive right now, you are going to need to budget for a data removal service in 2024 and definitely 2025. That's pretty much it. That's just going to be what we have to do from here on out.

You can't really be private online without erasing your past. And that's where these data removal services comes in. They're going to remove that data so that nobody else can buy it. Nobody else can try to harass you with it or buy it for illegal purposes. By the way, when people buy information from data brokers, they're not supposed to use it to spam you. They're not supposed to use it to harass you, that sort of thing, but we all know that happens.

So that's just something you got to be on the lookout for.

Now I want to talk to you about being a ninja when browsing the internet. Your IP address acts like a license plate for your online activity, which allows companies to track you, to follow you. And that's not cool, but this is why you see Amazon ads and Temu ads and whatever else ads everywhere else you go on the internet.

A virtual private network or VPN can help mask that sort of information, making it harder for advertisers and businesses to track you. I recommend NordVPN for secure encrypted browsing. It's simple to use and protects your data, especially on public WiFi and when you're shopping online. Now, I can hear the voice of my friend Josh Summers of All Things Secured in my head.

And his voice is saying that a VPN does not mean that you are immune to malware and viruses, and that you don't have to use one all the time. And all of that is true. You don't have to be on a VPN all the time, but there are some useful times for one. Also, do not let your kids use a VPN because they can circumvent parental controls.

Now let's talk about that information that sometimes you have to give out online. Using your main email or phone number to sign up for something new opens you up to spam and even some phishing attacks. And this is where masking your real data is a big advantage. I have a service that I really like that is called Cloaked. It lets you create alias emails and phone numbers for online signups.

So with Cloaked, I can sign up for a new service with a decoy email address that will actually forward to my inbox. I can also create a decoy phone number that will still forward calls and texts to my phone. It's a really cool service. And when you're done with these aliases, you can actually just turn them off. And you can create a ton of new identities to manage as many accounts as you need. Or you can just create a base one that you use over and over again.

I hope by now you are not using Chrome or Edge to surf the internet. Regular browsers like Chrome are notorious for tracking your browsing habits and for sharing all of your data with advertisers. For a more private experience, I want you to think about switching browsers to something like Firefox or DuckDuckGo, which protect your data from third party tracking.

I know many people who follow me on social media, they swear by Brave . I do think it's a good option, but I feel like it's really bulky and not as intuitive as, say, Firefox. Another thing that you can add to your browser is something called the Privacy Badger. This is a free tool from the EFF that blocks trackers and ads and will actually show you what is being blocked and in real time, which is kind of fun to see.

This is a great add on if you have to use Chrome or Edge for some reason you can't switch or whatever. If you can't go to a third party browser, definitely install the Privacy Badger from the EFF. If you just google those terms, it'll come right up.

If you're listening to this show, I bet you want to keep your home address private. And honestly, I think everybody does. Your home address is sensitive information, and it can end up in data brokers hands pretty easily. There are a few things that you can do to combat this. First, consider getting a P. O. Box through the Postal Service. This way, your mail can be sent there and you have a legal address. But, the problem is UPS can't deliver to a P. O. Box.

So if you want to get deliveries there, you might want to get a mailbox at a shipping store like the UPS store, and this will give you a real street address and they will hold your packages of course, for a fee. The last thing that you can do is you can use a virtual mailbox service. A virtual mailbox service allows you to manage your mail digitally with a shipping address. Sometimes in another state. The company will open and scan your mail, and then email it to you.

They will also forward you any mail that you want to physically have, but it will add time to shipping. That's why I think a mailbox at a local shipping store is probably the best route to take, in my opinion. As we wrap things up.

We always want to be mindful of what we share on social media. What we post online is one of the biggest threats to our privacy and our personal safety. Think about what you're sharing and then who's going to see it and how they might use that information against you. I know I hate to think that way, but it's kind of what we have to do now. You also need to regularly review the privacy settings on your social media accounts and avoid posting personal details that could be used to track you.

One of those things being a picture of your car that has the license plates. License plate lookup is pretty easy now. So that is one thing you definitely don't want to be posting on social media.

So there you have it. Seven steps to help you stay invisible as possible online. Now, obviously none of us can completely disappear unless we put down our devices and then we never pick them back up. But let's face it, we all feel like doing that sometimes. But by taking these steps, you can reduce the amount of information available about you and protect your family's privacy. Well that's everything that I have for The Secure Dad Podcast for today. Thank you friend for listening.

If you could do me a favor today, I would greatly appreciate it. I am less than 100 subscribers away on my YouTube channel from being at 1000, and I would really like to hit that mark by the end of November. So the next time you're on YouTube, if you would like, just search for The Secure Dad and hit subscribe, and I would greatly appreciate it. Take back your privacy and personal data with help from DeleteMe. Get 20 percent off a privacy plan when using the code DAD at checkout.

Fortify your home with FlipLok. For more, go to FlipLok.com and use the discount code SECUREDAD to get 20 percent off your entire order. For more from The Secure Dad, visit TheSecureDad.com. There you'll find ways to protect your family at home, in public, and online. Including, my Amazon best selling book, Home Security, The Secure Dad's Guide. I'm Andy Murphy reminding you that our safety Is our own responsibility.