The expert explained the impossibility of completely deleting personal data from the Network

It is technically impossible to completely delete personal data from the Internet, since information can be stored in search engines, web archives and backups of various services. However, users are able to significantly reduce their digital footprint and limit fraudsters' access to personal information. This was announced on October 24 by Sergey Shcherbakov, Technical director of Stakhanovets, an expert in the field of information security.

According to the expert, you should start by checking all the Internet resources on which the user has ever registered. Unused accounts must be deleted using the appropriate service function. However, simply deactivating a profile does not guarantee that previously published information will disappear.

"It's important to completely delete the service, not hide the profile or deactivate it. This is the only way your page is formally removed from public access, although copies may remain," Shcherbakov explained in an interview with Gazeta.Ru».

The expert called the next stage the restriction of the dissemination of personal information through search engines. In particular, users can go to Google and Yandex with the request for an exception from the search results confidential data, including passport details and addresses. This procedure may take time, but it can reduce the availability of personal information.

Shcherbakov considers the separation of old and new communication channels to be another effective way to protect himself. To do this, he recommends setting up a separate phone number and email address, and then linking them to the most important services, including banks, government portals, and messengers. You can save your previous contacts to restore access to your accounts.

The specialist also drew attention to the threat of personal data leaks. According to him, previously compromised logins and passwords cannot be removed from already widespread databases, so users should update their credentials and enable two-factor authentication.

"Your logins and passwords are most likely already in the merged databases — they cannot be extracted from there. The only thing is to change passwords and enable two—factor authentication. This does not delete information, but it makes it useless," Shcherbakov stressed.

Thus, the complete disappearance of personal information from the Internet is unattainable, but the consistent deletion of old accounts, updating contacts and strengthening account protection can significantly reduce the risks of using personal information by intruders.

A vulnerability in the PHP programming language has disrupted the Internet. What you need to know

Leonid Bezvershenko, senior expert at Kaspersky GReAT, said on October 21 that tens of millions of web pages around the world were at risk of hacking due to data leaks about vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language. According to the expert, information about two critical vulnerabilities in the PHP interpreter has become publicly available. This server-side language is one of the most popular and is used to create dynamic web pages on tens of millions of resources and applications.

At the same time, it became known that sites in Europe began to be disabled due to interpreter security problems. The European Union's Computer Emergency Response Team has confirmed the discovery of two critical vulnerabilities, and the UK government has called for systems to be checked for signs of malicious activity.