How to try Vouchsafe’s digital footprint checker for free
Jaye Hackett
Vouchsafe offers a simple way to collect and summarise a user or customer’s digital footprint as part of our Smart Lookup product. Here’s how it works under the hood and how you can try it out.
What is a digital footprint and what can it reveal?
We all leave digital traces of our activity as we interact with services online. This information can be compiled, analysed and used to indicate how trustworthy a particular user or customer is.
That helps businesses defend against recently made-up (synthetic) identities, duplicate sign-ups and account takeover attacks.
Where does the data come from?
We use a wide range of public and semi-public data sources to compile online footprints.
The simplest way is by searching for a user’s profile on the platforms that support it, either by scraping public webpages or querying APIs.
Data brokers also buy and compile their own mix of data sources, which is then resold to businesses like Vouchsafe for a price.
For platforms that are not directly accessible or aggregated by brokers, data breaches provide a convenient proxy.
How data breaches factor in
Most legitimate internet users have had their data breached at one time or another, through no fault of their own.
This data is by definition public, and provides a convenient way to see how active an email or phone number has been over time, and when it first appeared.
Data breaches are aggregated by services like Have I Been Pwned, which Vouchsafe checks.
Data breaches are particularly good evidence that an email or phone number has existed for a while, because it is not possible to retroactively insert entries into existing breaches.
What the trust score means
We are deliberately selective about the information we share from an online footprint check, so that Vouchsafe cannot be used unethically. The most important part of the result is the trust score, which is calculated from factors like:
- when the email address or phone number first appeared in our data sources
- the number of accounts it is connected to, and the reputation of those services
- whether there are any suspicious patterns common to fraudsters (eg. long strings of meaningless characters, no profile pictures)
The higher the trust score, the more likely the email or phone number is used by a real person or business, rather than a fraudster or scammer.
Why fraud teams use Vouchsafe’s digital footprint checker
Digital footprint checks are a very good defence against synthetic identities, account takeovers and duplicate sign-ups.
They are not a replacement for proper identity verification, and are not capable of detecting impersonation or stolen identities by themselves, but are a crucial part of a full counter-fraud strategy.
Smart lookups allows you to combine online footprint data with AML databases and credit bureau data for a fuller picture.
It is possible to make deals with data brokers and check data breach databases directly, and no shortage of great OSINT tools to investigate emails, phone numbers and usernames, Vouchsafe’s smart lookups provide a simple, easy-to-use and cost-effective way for businesses to benefit right away.
We manage collecting the data as well as analysing it, and we are beholden to strict GDPR rules in how we treat it, outsourcing the risk.
Try Vouchsafe free
You can get a free 14 day trial of all Vouchsafe features, including the online footprint check in our smart lookups, with no credit card or sales call required.
Sign up for a free trial here. After evaluating the platform, our pricing is transparent and simple, with no expensive annual commitment required. Book a conversation about your needs.
