Digital Traces : Find What's Hidden, Protect What's Yours

As we increasingly share personal moments, opinions, and daily activities on social media, the lines between private and public information are blurring. Our online presence is growing—spanning social media platforms, blogs, and other digital spaces—often without considering the risks of exposure. The rise of interconnected services means our data is more accessible than ever, making it easier for malicious actors to exploit personal information. At the same time, scams and phishing attacks have become faster, more sophisticated, and harder to detect, with artificial intelligence playing a role in creating increasingly convincing fake media and communications. This course explores how to navigate this landscape, helping participants verify the authenticity of online media and protect themselves from the growing threats of privacy breaches, identity theft, and online manipulation.

This course introduces participants to the core principles of understanding and verifying the authenticity of online media.

Participants will learn to apply Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques to analyze metadata, digital footprints, and other indicators of manipulation, helping them distinguish between genuine and fabricated content.

In the second part of the course, the focus shifts to the personal implications of these OSINT methods, specifically how others can use them against an individual.

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how metadata—such as EXIF data, geolocation tags, and email headers—can unintentionally expose personal information. The course will then provide practical guidance on how to remove or anonymize these traces from their own content, including photos, documents, and communications. Emphasis will be placed on privacy-conscious digital practices to help protect personal data, manage online identities, and safeguard against emerging risks of personal data exposure.

By the end of the course, participants will be equipped not only to evaluate and verify online information but also to protect their own digital presence with informed and strategic actions.

After the course, participants will know:

- The types of metadata and digital footprints that can reveal personal information.

- The emerging online threats like doxxing, stalking, and social engineering, and how they exploit personal data.

- Best practices for safeguarding personal information in the digital space.

After the course, participants are able to:

- Use OSINT techniques to identify manipulated or misleading digital content.

- Remove or anonymize metadata from photos and documents.

- Recognize potential privacy threats.

After the course, participants are:

- More empowered to detect misinformation and scams online.

- More proactive in reducing their digital footprint and mitigating the emerging risks of personal data exposure.