Old social media accounts can be a thorn in your side for a host of reasons. Embarrassing old photos, snapshots of old relationships, or representations of your past self can be embarrassing reminders of the permanence of your digital footprint.
Did you know that, in addition to being embarrassing, these accounts can be a threat to your current-day privacy?
Abandoned social media profiles remain searchable for years, which means that they’re accessible to people who may want to steal your information. Cybercriminals, data brokers, scammers, and impersonators can use these abandoned accounts to build a surprisingly detailed profile of you. Awareness of what old accounts reveal and the threat they pose to your privacy is the first step towards protecting yourself.
Why Old Social Media Accounts Can Still Be a Security Risk
You may have forgotten about your old social media accounts, but they likely haven’t forgotten about you; many social media platforms keep inactive accounts online until a user manually deletes them. Even if you do manually delete your account, archived versions of it may still appear in search results.
In the words of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, posts are like ghosts. Your online presence is cumulative, and your digital footprint builds upon itself. Old profiles and information combine with newer ones to create a larger digital profile.
This applies to everyone, even people who only post occasionally (and seemingly impersonally). Unfortunately, identity thieves don’t always need your most sensitive information. Sometimes, tidbits of information across multiple sources are more than enough.
What Old Social Media Accounts Might Still Reveal About You
Have an old account that you can’t access? Unfortunately, even accounts that you haven’t accessed in years can provide curious strangers with useful information. But what exactly do your old social media accounts reveal about you?
Personal Details
This one may seem somewhat obvious, but identity thieves can do quite a lot with personal details like your full name, nicknames, birthday, age, and hometown. If they’re accessible via old profiles, they’re at risk of being exploited.
Contact Information
Old email addresses, phone numbers, and even links to your other personal accounts can give hackers easy ways to contact you.
Photos and Location Information
If any of your old posts have tagged locations, strangers have access to the places you’ve vacationed (or places that you frequent). Even if you don’t tag your location, viewers can gather information about you from less obvious signals like school logos, workplace uniforms, or neighborhood landmarks.
Family and Friends
Have you used your children’s names, anniversaries, or family milestones as answers to your personal accounts’ security questions? If so, sharing them can give hackers a huge hint (and help them log into your accounts).
How Can Criminals Use This Information?
Criminals can use your personal information in many exploitative ways, including the following:
- Identity theft
- Account takeovers
- Security question guesses
- Password guesses
- Impersonation scams
- Financial fraud
- Romance scams
Social engineering is another way that criminals can use your information to exploit the people close to you. In this tactic, attackers create convincing emails, phone calls, or text messages using publicly available information.
For example, let’s say that an attacker gathers your graduation year, employer, hometown, and pet’s name from your social media profiles. They could use that information to craft an email that appears to come from your university, employer, or a close friend, making you more likely to click a malicious link.
How to Audit and Clean Up Your Old Accounts
What can you do to reduce what your old social media accounts are telling strangers about you? Here are a few actionable steps you can take to better secure your information.
Search Yourself Online
The best way to defend yourself against online attacks is by knowing what information is readily available about you. Consider searching your name on a search engine or using a specialized people search tool to see what information comes up.
Pro tip: Search old usernames that you’ve used, and be sure to check the image results.
Delete or Deactivate Old Accounts
If you still have access to your old accounts, the best thing to do is delete them. If deletion isn’t immediate, consider removing your personal posts first.
If you no longer have access, attempt to recover your password. If you’re still having trouble, contact the platform for specialized support.
Pro Tip: Before you delete your account, be sure to download any messages or photos that you may want to keep. After your account has been permanently deleted, it may be impossible to recover its data.
Update Privacy Settings
Take privacy precautions on your current accounts. This means taking steps like limiting profile visibility, hiding your birthday, or removing old posts.
Pro tip: Some social platforms allow you to limit the audience for past posts. If you don’t want to manually delete your old posts, consider reducing their visibility.
Remove Sensitive Information
It’s generally unsafe to post sensitive information on your social media profiles. Delete all mentions of phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, workplace details, or birthdates.
Pro tip: Double-check your profile bio! These sections often contain personal details that are useful to scammers.
Strengthen Account Security
Whether you’re creating a new account or auditing an existing account, account security is extremely important. Use unique passwords, update your recovery email addresses, and enable multi-factor authentication, where possible.
Pro tip: Review your account’s login history and check what devices are currently logged into your account. If you see something you don’t recognize, sign out of all sessions, then change your password.
Good Digital Hygiene Can Make or Break Your Personal Privacy
Your online presence doesn’t disappear the moment you stop using an account. Unfortunately, your old profiles, photos, and posts can remain visible years after you log out for the last time.
Identity thieves and scammers often rely on public information, and old social media accounts are full of it. Even seemingly harmless details can be valuable alongside the information that they may already have on you from other sources.
Regularly reviewing your virtual presence can help you protect your privacy. Make it a habit to review your online accounts 1 to 2 times a year, especially after major life events.
Protecting your accounts isn’t just about strong passwords. Taking steps to limit the information that strangers can easily find about you online can save you time, money, and a headache down the line.
