Your Signature Is Everything
What Is a Signature?
Every time you go online, you leave behind traces of yourself. This can include things like the browser you’re using, your IP address, and the posts you make on social media platforms. These traces combine to create your signature.
Speaking in digital terms, many sources define signature as the electronic version of your name used to approve and authenticate web-only documents. But for the national security community, the term signature has an entirely different meaning. The signature we are describing refers to your overall online appearance. It consists of your digital fingerprint (i.e., technical identifiers) and behavioral footprint (i.e., the actions you take while online).
Digital Fingerprint and Behavioral Footprint
Since “digital fingerprint” might also conjure up a few competing definitions, here is ours: your digital fingerprint is a detailed set of technical information that identifies you online, such as your IP address, geolocation, or browser attributes.
On the other hand, your behavioral footprint encompasses every step you make online, from the status updates you post on Facebook to the sites you visit before purchasing a new item from an online store.
It might seem tricky to differentiate between these two terms, but just remember: your digital fingerprint refers to technical components, while your behavioral footprint refers to online activities.
Here’s an example:
Anna Lee logs onto her MacBook Pro in Dover, Delaware. She then opens her Chrome browser and enters “brunch spots” into her Google search bar, allowing location services to retrieve local results for her brunch-based query. She scrolls down a few of the results before clicking on the third link, which takes her to the website of a popular nearby diner. She decides to reserve a table for two at 11am the next morning, adding her name, phone number, and email to the reservation.
Each of the bolded words represent different pieces of Anna’s signature. Her location, laptop, and browser choice represent parts of her digital fingerprint. Her search query, scrolling behaviors, website clicks, and online reservation represent aspects of her behavioral footprint. Anna’s digital fingerprint and behavioral footprint unite to create her signature, the online appearance that makes Anna unique to any other internet user.
Controlling Your Signature
For an average online user like Anna, managing her signature is not a priority. However, members of the national security community must be cognizant of their signatures—and who might be observing them—at all times. As we have detailed above, your signature can reveal your identity and your activities. It’s important to become aware of the data you’re leaving behind and manage these technical and behavioral identifiers. Otherwise, your signature can lead third parties to attribute your online identifiers to your operation and organization.
To learn more about topics related to your signature, check out our previous blogs.
Related Article: OSINT Technologies: Safe Online Data Collection
