Mozilla is coming up with a new service that promises to automatically remove all personal data from the online environment. Monitor Plus is the extended version of the Mozilla Monitor service, which used to notify for free if the mail was part of a security breach.
Personal data reaching the online environment can be used by hackers – Photo Shutterstock
The tool, which will delete all personal data you don't want online and continuously monitor personal information exposed on the Internet, can be used on a monthly or annual subscription basis. Mozilla Monitor Plus will cost $8.99 per month or $107.88 per year.
The service scans nearly 200 sites every month that use data negatively and will notify users as soon as their data is successfully removed.
In the context where we are increasingly vulnerable online, and our data can be used by cybercriminals to harm us, the premium tool can represent a concrete plan to control and secure online identity, especially since to delete personal information, alone, the path is not an easy one. However, there are other applications that do the same thing, but on a much smaller number of sites.
A survey shows that 42% of 18- to 24-year-olds want to know what information companies hold about them. All the sites we use on the Internet store data about us that they may sell to other companies. The more companies that have our data, the greater the chances that it will be leaked or fall into the hands of hackers.
According to Eurostat, in 2023, 52% of Romanians managed access to their personal data online, compared to the 73% average in the European Union.
To help us understand what's going on, the company will offer a free scan that will show us where our data has been exposed.
“When we launched Monitor, our goal was to help people discover where their personal information may have been exposed. Now, with Monitor Plus, we're going to help people recover their exposed data from data brokerage sites that try to sell it” said Tony Amaral-Cinotto, Product Manager of the product, according to the company's blog.
Specifically, the tool will look for where data such as names, addresses and phone numbers have been exposed to websites that sell them for profit. In addition, the search could be expanded to include information such as family members' names, criminal history, children's school district, and even hobbies.
At launch, the service will only be available to users in the US, and will be rolled out globally.
