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As you think about your New Year's resolutions, consider: protects every part of your life in 2026: removing your personal data from the Internet. Not your social media posts. Not your email subscriptions. Your personal data and company files are quietly collected and sold without your consent.
Most people don't realize how much of their lives are already floating around in huge databases managed by data brokers. These companies exist for one purpose: collect, package and sell personal information. They do this all the time, often without your knowledge or approval, to anyone who is willing to pay. At the beginning of 2026, it is digital cleaning that matters most.
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10 SIMPLE CYBER SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOR 2026 SECURITY
Data brokers quietly collect and sell personal information, creating detailed profiles that facilitate fraud, identity theft and privacy risks in 2026. (Photo by Kira Hofmann/Image Alliance via Getty Images)
What's in your “digital file” and why it's a problem in 2026
Data brokers work like factories. They extract information from the apps you use, websites you visit, loyalty cards you scan, public records, and even location data from your phone. They then combine this into a stunningly detailed picture of your life, including:
- Your full name and past addresses
- Your phone numbers and email accounts
- Your purchase history
- Projected income, political views, age and marital status
- Your Internet browsing habits
- Where you go daily, down to GPS coordinates.
This data is packaged and sold to advertisers, insurers, political groups, background check sites and, most alarmingly, scammers. And in 2026, the picture of threats is completely different:
- AI scams rely on data brokers: Fraudsters no longer guess – they buy. They use broker data to tailor scams, impersonate companies you interact with, and even impersonate family members.
- Deepfake phone scams are on the rise: When the scammer knows the names, phone numbers, travel dates and habits of your relatives, the fake call becomes dangerously believable.
- Data breaches are happening more often than ever: Your information has never been leaked; it leaks again and again because brokers constantly resell it.
- The more data you leave exposed, the easier identity theft becomes: One open address or phone number is annoying. Hundreds of exposed data points? This is an ongoing risk until you remove them.
If you want 2026 to be your safest year yet, the best thing you can do is reduce the amount of personal data available about you online, starting with data brokers.
Why data brokers make it so difficult to delete your information
Technically, data brokers are required to delete your data if you request it. But here's what they don't advertise: they want you to give up. Some brokers hide their opt-out pages behind dozens of clicks. Others require you to fax forms, upload IDs, or retry the request every 30 to 90 days as they reactivate your profile without warning. Now multiply that by 180-500+ data brokers, depending on your location. This is why most people never delete their information: it takes too much time.
The simplest solution: automate the deletion
This is where a data removal service can help. These services automatically request removal of your personal information from hundreds of data brokers on your behalf. This includes people search websites, marketing databases, background check services, and similar data markets. Instead of monitoring each site yourself, automation handles the process for you. Here's what it does:
- Determines which brokers store your data
- Sends you legitimate removal requests
- Monitors continuously until your data is deleted.
- Prevents brokers from re-registering you
- Monitoring continues through 2026.
For most people, this means removing your data from hundreds of databases within just a few minutes of installation. If you want a clean digital slate by 2026, this is the closest thing to “wiping.”
Why New Year is the best time for action
You can delete your data at any time. However, the beginning of January is one of the most effective times for this. Here's why.
700CREDIT DATA LEAK EXPOSED SSNS 5.8 MILLION CONSUMERS
Cybersecurity experts warn that personal data circulating online is making consumers more vulnerable to artificial intelligence scams and deepfake scams. (Photo by Nicholas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
1) The volume of your data is greatest after the holidays
The holiday season causes a surge in data sharing. Retailers, loyalty programs, airlines, travel sites and apps collect massive amounts of personal information in November and December. Shoppers often share email addresses, phone numbers and location data to get discounts and speed up checkout.
Vacation spending continues to rise year after year. More spending means more data. As a result, your personal information is spread across more databases than at any other time of the year.
2) Data brokers update profiles at the beginning of the year.
After the holiday rush, data brokers are updating and expanding their profiles using newly collected information. In January, many of these companies organize, repackage and resell their data sets.
Starting the removal process early helps limit the spread of your information. Since deletion may take days or even weeks, you can act now to reduce the risk of infection before the data spreads further.
3) Fraud increases during tax season.
From January to April, scammers intensify their activities related to tax season. Common threats include IRS Impersonation Fraudfake chargeback reports and W-2 fraud. Many of these attacks are based on data obtained from broker databases.
When scammers have accurate personal information, their messages appear more convincing. Reducing the exposure of your data now reduces risk. Removing your information from major data broker sites is a serious first step. It also helps to check smaller, lesser-known sites that may still have your details listed.
PORNHUB suffered a massive user data leak that exposed 200 million records
Removing personal data from data broker sites can reduce the risk of scammers and help protect your finances and privacy in the new year. (Photo by Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
How to start 2026 with a clean slate (3 steps)
Using a reliable data removal service can make the entire process easier. These services automate requests to delete your personal information from data brokers, including many sites that would be difficult to handle on your own.
Step 1) Run a quick exposure check
Start by searching for your name on Google. Look for results that show your address, date of birth, phone number, or email address. Sites that display this information are often owned by data brokers or companies that sell personal data for profit.
Make a short list of the pages where your information appears.
Step 2) Automate the removal
Instead of spending weeks going through each site manually, a data removal service can do all the work for you. You submit the links you find, and the service requests removal from hundreds of databases on your behalf.
This approach is especially useful if:
- Have you recently moved
- Do you often shop online?
- You frequently receive spam or fraudulent messages
- You want stronger privacy protections in 2026
Many people see several removals within the first few weeks.
Step 3) Keep it clean all year round
Data brokers don't stop collecting information. Even after deletion, your data may appear again after a few months. Constant monitoring helps identify new ads and remove them before they spread further.
It's this long-term protection that allows you to reduce your data footprint throughout the year.
While no service can guarantee complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is indeed a smart choice. They don't come cheap, and neither does your privacy. These services do all the work for you, actively monitoring and systematically removing your personal information from hundreds of websites. This is what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk that scammers will link leaked data to information they can find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.
Check out my top data removal services and get a free scan to see if your personal information has already been published online by visiting Cyberguy.com.
Get a free scan to see if your personal information has already been published online: Cyberguy.com.
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Kurt's key takeaways
If you want 2026 to be the year you take control of your digital life, start with what impacts your security, your inbox, your finances, and your peace of mind: decluttering personal data from data broker sites. You can spend months trying to do this manually, or you can sign up once and let the data removal service do all the hard work. The safer, quieter and more secluded 2026 is just minutes away.
How much of your personal information do you think is already being bought and sold without your knowledge? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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