This article was made possible thanks to our partner, Incogni, a leading data removal service. If you purchase through our links, we might receive a small commission.

Our lives are increasingly moving online, from social interactions to work, shopping, finance and health. That means there’s a vast amount of personal information about you out there, held on different servers around the world.

It would be nice to think that all of this information is securely safeguarded, but the reality is that data breaches are a fact of life. Your personal information could be for sale on the dark web right now.

The situation isn’t helped by “data broker” websites, which collect publicly available information to compile profiles of individuals. Yours could include your address and phone number, personal interests and demographics – and again, it’s available to anyone who’s willing to pay.

All of this online information violates your privacy, and it can be used by cybercriminals to target you for fraud. Here’s how to protect yourself from intrusions and threats by removing your online information from the internet.