JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Every step you take, every move you make, they are likely watching you online, from social media platforms to something as simple as creating an account for an online service. Most of the time, your data is for sale.
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Tyler Chancey, the director of Scarlett Cybersecurity talked about how fast services can collect data.
“How fast does a broker service collect my data? When I sign up for a new service? Instantly? I mean, it is within seconds,” Chancey said.
He also said most people don’t realize they are handing over their personal information online. He described the one telltale sign that you are likely being tracked.
“When you see those pop-ups on websites asking about cookies. That’s what a cookie is. It’s trackers, it’s marketing techniques that are taking your data based on your sign-in and selling it to third parties. Most likely, if you read the statements associated with those cookies on websites, very often, it’ll say you’re giving us permission to sell this to a third party, data broker or service,” Chancey said.
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According to a survey conducted by security.org:
- 51% of the 1,000 people surveyed had no idea that data removal products were available to consumers.
- A surprisingly low 6% report ever using a data removal service.
Alex Quilici is the CEO of YouMail, which offers various options to delete your data. They also offer services to block robo-callers and text spammers.
“Essentially, we go look at the 100+ data brokers that are out there, and we make a request to them to eliminate your information and for some of them, they do it right away. Others need repeated requests, but it’s all done in the background. Essentially, we’re saying ‘Please take away any information on this person,’” Quilici said.
YouMail also has a service that reveals how many times your personal data has been found on data broker sites.
Quilici said the sale of personal information is a $1 billion business that you can get an upper hand on by opting out of the information sharing.
“So when you go to one of these data brokers and you actually see that they have on you, it’s clear, they’re getting it from everywhere,” Quilici said. “You may make a purchase at a store and you give them information to join their loyalty club? Well, you don’t read the contract or the terms of service and then there will be small print that says we can sell this to go inform you of other products.”
He said data brokers can get this data by simply scraping the internet.
Quilici’s company YouMail recently entered the delete program arena, joining companies like DeleteMe, Mozilla Monitor Plus, and Reputation Defender by Norton, which all can help you protect your data.