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How to see where your personal data is listed online and remove it

 

It’s important to keep your data and information safe while you’re browsing online. That’s something that McAfee Total Protection Ultimate is particularly adept at assisting you with. However, what do you do when your personal info has already been found and posted by data brokers and people-search sites? That’s where a new feature from McAfee can help you significantly. It’s called Personal Data Cleanup. Here’s what you need to know.

Personal Data Cleanup is able to find and help you remove all your personal info from data broker and people-search sites. The service scans the riskiest data broker sites for information such as your home address, date of birth, and even the names of your relatives. If it finds your personal information, the service gives you a heads up and allows you to choose to remove it yourself, or have McAfee initiate the removal process on your behalf.

In fact, you don’t need to do much at all. Just enter your name, date of birth, and home address, and Personal Data Cleanup uses that information to do the hard work for you. Within minutes, it returns a list of sites and the data they have on you. Data brokers are continually collecting data, so McAfee even allows you to set up regular scans to ensure you’re protected if your data reappears.

Having your information listed on data broker sites can range from irritating to potentially dangerous. It can lead to your information being sold and used to advertise products to you or inundate your inbox with email spam, but it can also mean that criminals can use the data to steal your identity. That’s why it’s so important to have something like Personal Data Cleanup helping you out at all times.

Whether or not you answer nuisance calls can be stressful, especially if the other party keeps is persistent. Pesky spam and shady emails can be the same way, with serious potential of having your data, or worse, your entire identity stolen, if you’re not careful. This means you have to stay vigilant and safeguard your information at all times. That’s easier said than done. Worryingly, 95% of consumers have found their personal information on data broker sites without their consent, so it’s vital you stay ahead of the information race. Moreover, those pesky spam emails and calls are more likely if your data is readily accessible online. With everyone spending more time online, it’s hardly surprising that a survey of McAfee customers found that 59% of users have become more protective of their personal data over the past six months, and they definitely have the right idea.

To use Personal Data Cleanup, all you need is to have an eligible subscription with McAfee. That means signing up for McAfee Total Protection Ultimate, which does exactly what its name suggests. It provides you with antivirus, VPN, identity monitoring, and much more to ensure your online experience is always safe. Take back your personal information. Sign up today.

Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen is a technology writer with over 15 years of experience in the field. During that time, she's spent the past…
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