Guarding Your Digital Life: Tune into our Q&A on Digital Identity Protection

Alexandru_BD

📣 Dear Community members,

We are excited to announce our latest Q&A session that delves into a topic of utmost importance in today's digital age – Digital Footprint and Identity Protection. As our lives become increasingly intertwined with the virtual world, understanding how to manage and safeguard your digital identity is crucial.

In this interactive session, we aim to explore various facets of digital footprints, online privacy, and strategies to protect your personal identity from potential threats. Our guest expert in the Community is Marius MALAIAS – Principal Product Manager, Identity Protection at Bitdefender and here's what he wanted to share with you:

"I joined Bitdefender 7 years ago as Product Manager. Since then, I’ve been involved in various projects: Bitdefender Central and Bitdefender Box 2 to name a few.

From 2019 I’ve started to extend the Bitdefender Consumer portfolio with the first Identity Protection service: Digital Identity Protection. It was very challenging because the identity market was new, the Product team was new, and the release date coincided with the beginning of the pandemic period (spring 2020). But all of that didn’t stop us in our quest to continuously get feedback from the customers, to improve the services based on that feedback and to add more value for this product.

Within the realm of Identity Protection, Bitdefender crafted specialized services catering to the United States and Europe markets, plus a range of global offerings.

Today our focus will be on Digital Identity Protection service and I’m happy to answer your questions about how the service started (from an idea to a product), what steps were taken on the roadmap or what direction we have in mind for Identity Protection in the near future."

This is your chance to have your burning questions answered and gain insights directly from those in the know. Post your questions below and engage with our experts and fellow forum members to share experiences, tips, and opinions.

Let's get this Q&A started! 🎉

Scott

Hi Marius :)

My question is, what can Digital Identity Protection do for us regarding our information stored on a vendor's server? I get the general idea of Digital Identity Protection (I'm a subscriber) and alerting us of possible breaches, managing our digital footprint and impersonation check, changing our passwords etc. That is all fine and good for our personal protection, but are we at the mercy of the hospitals, schools, business vendors etc., and their security protocols regarding our information being hacked or stolen? That is my greater concern, and that we seemingly have no control over that.

I guess the next step would be to have Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection in case that happens, and would that even help?

Thank you for your time and consideration of my questions and concerns.

Scott

Nunzio77

HI,

Regarding WebRTC, is it still important to protect browsers from this data leak?

Chrome does not have the setting to not display the IP (that I know of), so you need to use some extension to install in the browser.

But is it so important to protect yourself from this, or is WebRTC no longer a concern?

My question is for internet connections without using a VPN.

Thank you.

marius-malaias

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328531#Comment_328531

Hi @Scott,

Thank you for being a valuable customer of Digital Identity Protection. You get very good the idea of our identity service.

Our vision with Digital Identity Protection is to cover all 3 main areas: Prevention, Monitoring and Remediation having a holistic view of your identity. 

The Prevention layer will help you to see all the services where you have an account, what data they are storing about you and how to remove or retreive your personal data. 

We are working on it and it will be available for you in couple of weeks. 

Having this you will be able to reduce your Digital Footprint and in case of data breach on one of that services you are safe because your data will not be there. There are services where it is a must to keep your personal data and in this case you need to choose your service provider taking in consideration data security, as possible.

In case of huge data breaches that includes the SSN or all your personal data, you need to have the Identity Theft Protection, to freeze your credit, to take advantage of the insurance policy also you have a specialized remediation team.

Thank you,

Marius

Cristian Dumitru

Hello Mr. Marius !
Can you let me know when Bitdefender Premium Security Plus will be introduced on the local market?
And what are the possible upgrade possibilities for this product from Bitdefender Premium Security?
Thank you!

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328600#Comment_328600

Thank you, Marius, for your helpful reply, I appreciate it :)

It sounds like the next step security-wise that we, I have control over on our end, is to consider Fraud protection. It does not solve the issue of a business server who gets hacked and the people’s identities, email addresses and even S.S. numbers are held up for ransom or published. But in this day and age, what else can we do, but be careful of where and what personal information we allow on a website’s server. Granted, most of those companies and vendors say our information is encrypted and secure, but a person really has to be careful to understand their privacy policy and what their security measures are, even for fraud protection services like Bitdefender and LifeLock who would then also have that critical personal information, including S.S. numbers.

Gjoksi

Hello.

What are your predictions for the digital identity and the digital identity theft in 2024?

Thanks for your time and answer.

Best regards.

marius-malaias

Hi @Cristian Dumitru

We don't have for now a targeted date to launch Premium Security Plus in Romania but you can acquire it from bitdefender.de , bitdefender.fr or bitdefender.co.uk. Our Customer Service team will help you to upgrade from Premium Security.

Thanks

marius-malaias

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328559#Comment_328559

Hi @Nunzio77 ,

Protecting your browser from WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) data leaks is still relevant, especially if you're concerned about privacy and anonymity while browsing the internet, even if you're not using a VPN. WebRTC can potentially reveal your real IP address to websites you visit, which may compromise your anonymity.

Here are a few key points to consider:

1. WebRTC and IP Address Leakage: WebRTC is a technology that enables real-time communication between web browsers. While it's a useful technology for various web applications like video conferencing, it can inadvertently expose your public IP address to websites you visit, potentially revealing your location and identity.
2. Browser Settings: Some web browsers, such as Chrome, may not provide built-in settings to disable WebRTC IP leakage. In this case, you might need to use browser extensions or add-ons that block WebRTC requests or mask your IP address.
3. Importance of Protection: The importance of protecting against WebRTC IP leaks depends on your specific privacy concerns. If you're comfortable with websites potentially knowing your real IP address, it might not be a top priority for you. However, for individuals who prioritize online privacy, taking steps to protect against WebRTC leaks is recommended, especially if they want to maintain anonymity or prevent potential tracking.
4. Use of VPNs: While you mentioned your question is related to internet connections without using a VPN, it's worth noting that a VPN can effectively hide your IP address and provide an additional layer of privacy and security. If privacy is a significant concern, using a VPN alongside browser-based protections can be a robust strategy.

In summary, protecting your browser from WebRTC data leaks remains relevant for individuals who prioritize online privacy and anonymity. Depending on your specific concerns, you may choose to use browser extensions or other methods to mitigate WebRTC IP leakage, even when not using a VPN. However, keep in mind that using a VPN can provide a more comprehensive solution for safeguarding your online privacy.

Thanks

marius-malaias

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328611#Comment_328611

Hello @Gjoksi ,

We will see in Q4 2023 and in 2024 a rise in data breaches on small and medium companies because they don't have security policies, processes, certifications. The data breaches will help attackers to perform account-take-over and exploit accounts from big companies, social-media companies, e-commerce, finance. From our research 70% from online users are using the same email and password for multiple accounts and this is a very big problem by offering to attackers the opportunity to take over very easily.

In the European Union i'm expecting the regulations on The European Digital Identity by using European Digital Identity Wallets and in United States the financial frauds caused by identity theft will not lower the volumes in 2024 vs 2023.

Thanks

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/328769#Comment_328769

Thank you very much for your very thorough and complete answer. You cleared up a lot of doubts I had. 🙂

I am using the AdGuard browser extension which I find very effective both in blocking pop-ups and adverts, as well as tracking trackers and it also has the WebRTC blocking feature which I have personally tested and it works.

So I think it would be useful at this point to include this protection (Web RTC) in Bitdefender products, for example Bitdefender Traffic Light (browser extension) or within the AV settings of Bitedefender Home (if possible also in the free version). Of course there is the VPN that Bitdefender offers, but many users still don't use it.

Andreasvos

I have the following question: Why the firewall is often switched off when I start the computer. And it stays off untill I switch it on? What can I do against this.

Alexandru_BD

Hello @Andreasvos and welcome to the Community!

Kindly be advised that this discussion revolves around Digital Identity Protection and Marius won't be able to provide a definitive answer regarding the Firewall, because it's not his area of expertise. You can click on the below article for things to check and if the issue persists, please open a new thread or contact the Support teams using this link.

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2818/

Thank you and best regards

Alexandru_BD

Kindly be advised this Q&A session is now closed.

Thank you everyone for your participation!