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Digital footprint

Digital footprint checklist

Your digital footprint is bigger than your social media profile. It is every account you created, the personal data companies hold about you, and the passwords and recovery details protecting it all. Use this checklist to audit the lot.

Last updated: 31 May 2026Independent guidance, Australia-first
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The short answer

A digital footprint audit should cover nine areas: your accounts, your contact details, your identity data, your payment and financial details, your account security (passwords and MFA), your connected apps and permissions, your breach exposure, the personal data each company holds, and the old services you no longer use. Work through each section below and note what needs updating, securing, or closing.

In The Event Of is an Australian digital footprint manager that helps you find the accounts linked to your email, see your breach exposure, and get a prioritised plan of what to do after a breach or a life change.

Australian & independentThird-party security assessmentSources cited

Key takeaways

  • Your footprint is the full set of accounts and personal data tied to you online.
  • Audit accounts, contact details, identity data, payments, passwords, connected apps and breach exposure.
  • Old, forgotten accounts are pure risk, close the ones you no longer need.
  • In Australia you can ask organisations what data they hold and have it corrected.
  • Re-run a quick audit after any breach, move, new phone number or replaced card.

Definition

What is a digital footprint?

Your digital footprint is the collection of accounts, identifiers, personal data, devices, passwords, permissions and online activity connected to you. The important shift is to stop asking “what accounts do I have?” and start asking “what does each account know about me?”

That matters because Australian privacy guidance treats personal information broadly. The OAIC lists examples including your name, address, phone number, date of birth, financial details, photographs, IP addresses, biometric information and location information.

Section 1

Account checklist

Work through the categories of account most people hold:

Accounts to find and review

  • Email and cloud storage
  • Banking, credit cards and buy-now-pay-later
  • Superannuation and investments
  • myGov, ATO and Medicare
  • Telco and utilities (electricity, gas, water, internet)
  • Insurance (health, home, car)
  • Shopping, food delivery and loyalty programmes
  • Streaming and other subscriptions
  • Travel and transport accounts
  • Social media
  • Old or dormant subscriptions you no longer use

Not sure how to find them all? See how to find accounts linked to your email.

Section 2

Personal data checklist

For each account, consider which of these details it stores. This is what actually moves when your life changes:

Personal data to track

  • Name (and any previous names)
  • Email and recovery email
  • Phone number and recovery phone
  • Home and postal address
  • Date of birth
  • Payment cards and bank details
  • Identity documents, driver licence, passport, Medicare

Section 3

Security checklist

Account security

  • Replace reused passwords with a unique passphrase for each important account
  • Turn on multi-factor authentication, starting with email, banking and government accounts
  • Use passkeys or an authenticator app rather than SMS where offered
  • Confirm recovery email and phone numbers are current and under your control
  • Review and remove unrecognised connected apps and email forwarding rules

The ACSC describes multi-factor authentication as one of the most effective ways to protect your accounts.

Section 4

Breach exposure checklist

Breach exposure

  • Check your email against known breaches with a reputable breach checker
  • Note which data categories were exposed (passwords, phone, address, identity numbers)
  • Change any breached or reused passwords
  • If identity documents were exposed, consider replacing them and placing a credit ban

For the full response, see what to do if your email is in a data breach and how to secure your email after a data breach.

Section 5

What to update after a life event

Your footprint is not static. Certain events change the personal data held across your accounts and trigger a wave of updates:

  • Moving house changes your address, see the moving house address change checklist.
  • Changing telco or country changes your phone number.
  • A replaced or expired card changes your payment details across subscriptions.
  • Marriage or divorce may change your name across services.
  • A breach or compromise may mean changing your email or passwords.

You also have rights here: under Australian privacy law you can ask an organisation to correct personal information that is inaccurate or out of date.

Turn this checklist into a live to-do list

In The Event Of builds your footprint map and tracks what is done, so an annual audit (or a post-breach scramble) becomes a guided checklist instead of a spreadsheet.

Build your footprint free

Using In The Event Of

How In The Event Of helps

In The Event Of is designed to be the canonical home for your digital footprint. It discovers the accounts tied to your email, maps the personal data they hold, flags breach exposure, and gives you a prioritised checklist with direct links to each service, the sections of this guide, made interactive. It is a guided organiser: you make each change yourself, and the tool keeps track of what is complete.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is a digital footprint?
Your digital footprint is the collection of accounts, identifiers, personal data, devices, passwords, permissions and activity connected to you online. It is much larger than your social media profile, it includes every service that holds a piece of your personal information.
Why should I check my digital footprint?
Old accounts and outdated personal data create security, privacy and admin risk. Breaches, house moves, phone-number changes and replaced cards are all far harder to handle when you do not know who holds what. A periodic audit keeps the list manageable and your exposure low.
How often should I audit my digital footprint?
A full audit once a year is a reasonable baseline, plus a quick review whenever your circumstances change, after a breach notification, a move, a new phone number, or a replaced card. Each of those events changes which accounts need updating.
What personal data counts as part of my footprint?
More than most people expect. The OAIC notes that personal information can include your name, address, phone number, date of birth, financial details, photos, IP addresses, biometric data and location information. Each is held across many of the services you use.

Sources

Where this information comes from

  1. OAIC, What is personal information? (examples of personal information)
  2. OAIC, Access your personal information
  3. OAIC, Correct your personal information
  4. Australian Cyber Security Centre, Multi-factor authentication
  5. GDPR Article 4(1), EUR-Lex (international definition of personal data)
  6. NIST SP 800-63B, Digital Identity Guidelines (passphrases and MFA)

Related guides

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Secure your email after a breach

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What data companies store

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All guides Australian data breach guides

Disclaimer: This checklist is general guidance and not a substitute for advice specific to your circumstances. This guide is general information only and is not legal, financial, or security advice. It is based on publicly available sources at the time of writing and may not reflect the most recent developments. In The Event Of Pty Ltd (ABN 38 687 352 647) is an independent Australian company and is not affiliated with the third-party services named in this guide.