Cleanup on Aisle Six! How to Close Online Accounts for Savings and Security.

How
many
online
accounts
do
you
have?
Dozens?
Hundreds?
You
probably
have
more
than
you
think,
and
deleting
a
bunch
of
them
might
be
the
right
call.

 

You
have
two
good

reasons:
savings
and
security. 

Certainly,
you
have
trusted
accounts
you
use
all
the
time,
like
the
one
with
your
bank
and
a
few
others
with
major
retailers.
Yet
you
probably
have
armloads
of
other
accounts
on
top
of
those.
Within
that
broader
mix,
you’ll
find
accounts
for
apps,
streaming
services,
online
publications,
and
for
retailers
where
you
made
one-off
purchases
years
ago. 

Sure,
you
still
access
some
of
them
occasionally.
Yet
there
are
plenty
of
other
accounts
you
don’t.
And
there
might
be
some
you’re
still
paying
for
too.
Closing
them
down
can
certainly
save
you
some
money. 

Yet
there’s
a
security

issue,

too.
The
more
online
accounts
you
keep,
the
greater

the
exposure

you
have
to
data
breaches.
Each
account
will
have
varying
degrees
of
personal
and
financial
information

linked

to
it.
And
that
means
each
one
carries
a
varying
degree
of
risk
if
it
gets
breached.
Moreover,
some
sites
and
services
protect
data
better
than
others,
which
adds
another
dimension
of
risk. 

Closing
old
and
particularly
risky
accounts
can
decrease
the
risk
of
your
personal
and
financial
information
winding
up
in
the
hands
of
an
identity
thief.  

And
there’s
one
more
reason
why
you
might
consider
cleaning
up
your
old
accounts.
Your
privacy.
Companies
hold
all
kinds
of
personal
information
in
their
databases.
If
you’re
not
using
an
account
anymore,
why
should
a
company
have
it? 

With
security
and
savings
in
mind,
McAfee
created
Online
Account
Cleanup.
It
finds
and
requests
the
deletion
of
unused
accounts
and
protects
your
personal
data
from
data
breaches
as
a
result.
Monthly
scans
across
your
online
accounts
shows
a
risk
level
for
each
account
and
helps
you
decide
which
ones
to
delete. 

And
now
is
certainly
a
good
time
to
trim
down
those
accounts—about


half
a


billion

data
records
were
exposed
worldwide

between
2020
and
2022.
And
those
are
the
reported
figures.
Actual
figures
are
arguably
higher. 

In
all,

Online
Account
Cleanup

can
help
you
take
charge
of
your
personal
and
financial
information

at

a
time
where
bad
actors
prize
it
so
highly. 

How
McAfee’s
Online
Account
Cleanup
helps
put
you
in
charge 

Our
Online
Account
Cleanup
lets
you
view
all
your
accounts
tied
to
your
email
in
one
place
and
helps
you
decide
which
ones
you
want
to
delete.
It
assigns
a
risk
level
to
each
of
the
accounts
based
on
how
much
personal
information
is
usually
shared
with
each
company,
as
well
as
past
breaches
and
industry
breach
potential.  

When
you
decide
to
delete
an
account,
it
links
you
to
the
website
in
question.
From
there,
it
shows
you
how
you
can
request
to
have
your
data
deleted
from
their
database.
If
you’re
a


McAfee+
Ultimate

customer,
it
can
take
care
of
this
part
for
you
with
a
single
click.  

Our
Online
Account
Cleanup
will
continue

to
run

monthly
scans
to
find
any
new
online
accounts
so
you
can
stay
on
top
of
your
digital
footprint. 

How
McAfee’s
Online
Account
Cleanup
works 

1)
Scan
for
accounts 

You
can
scan
whichever
email
address
you

select.
Scanning
an
email
inbox
is
the
best
way
to
see
how
many
companies
or
organizations
have
access
to
your
information.
Don’t
worry,
we’re
only
looking
for
company
email
domains,
welcome
emails,
timestamps,
and
most
importantly—spam. 

If
you
decide
to
let
McAfee
help
you
request
data
deletion,
we’ll
keep
tabs
on
the
email
replies
you
receive
from
the
companies
requesting
more
information
or
confirming
that
your
data
has
been
deleted. 

2)
Review
and
delete
accounts 

The
risk
level
next
to
each
account
is
calculated
based
on
how
much
personal
information
each
company
or
organization
is
likely
to
have
access
to
and
the
breach
potential
for
the
company’s
industry.
The
more
important
the
info,
such
as
credit
card,
Social
Security
Number,
driver’s
license
number,
the
higher
the
risk.
If
the
organization
is
in
an
industry
with
a
low
breach

potential,

like
government
agencies,
the
risk
will
be
lower.
Keep
in
mind,
risk
level

doesn’t

mean
your
specific
account
is
more
or
less
susceptible
to
getting
hacked.  

For
the
accounts
you
choose
to
delete,
we’ll
provide
you

with
instructions

on
how
to
send
a
deletion
request
and
link
you
to
the
company’s
website.
Or
if
you’re
using
McAfee+
Ultimate,
we’ll
send
the
request
for
you
with
a
single
click.  

3)
Recurring
monitoring 

We’ll
scan
each
month
to
keep
you
up
to
date
on
new
accounts.
When
combined
with
other
McAfee
features
like


identity
monitoring,
transaction
monitoring,
and


Personal
Data
Cleanup,
plus


credit
monitoring

and
a


VPN,
you’ll
have
protection
in
breadth
and
depth.


You’ll
find
features
like
these
across
our
McAfee+
plans,
which
keep
your
privacy
and
identity
more
secure. 

See
for
yourself.
Take
a
quick
tour
of
McAfee’s
Online
Account
Cleanup. 

Questions
about
your
personal
data?
We
have
answers. 

Are
companies
required
to
delete
my
personal
data? 

Not
all
companies
are
required
to
delete
your
data.
It
depends
on
the
privacy
laws
of
the
country
or
region
in
which
you
live.
For
example,
if
you’re
a
resident
of
California
or
the
European
Union,
companies
are
required
to
delete
your
data
upon
request
because
privacy
laws
require
them
to
do
so
(subject
to
certain
exceptions). 

How
fast
will
my
data
be
deleted
after
sending
a
request? 

Sometimes,
deleting
your
personal
data
is
not
a
one-click
process.
In
other
cases,
companies
will
reach
out
to
you
to
further
verify
your
identity
or
ask
for
additional
information.
To
make
the
deletion
process
more
comfortable,
you
can
view
and
reply
to
the
companies
directly
from
your
McAfee
Protection
Center.
We
don’t
collect
any
of
these
email

messages.
Your

email
messages
remain
in
your
own
inbox. 

Should
I
scan
my
primary
email
address
or
an
email
I
use
for
spam? 

We
recommend
using
the
email
address
that’s
linked

to
your

online
accounts
that
use
your
credit
card,
address,
or
other
sensitive
information.
These
accounts
are
at
higher
risk
than
accounts
that

only

have
your
email
tied
to
them. 

Cleaning
up
online
accounts
for
savings
and
security 

Saving
money
feels
great.
Especially
when
you
shut
down
an
online
subscription
you’re
no
longer
using.  

But
there’s
more
to
deleting
old
accounts
than
that.
It
can
protect
you
from
data
breaches.
Which,
if
you
think
about
it,
is
a
strong
financial
move
as
well.
Consider
how
costly
identity
theft
can
be
in
terms
of
time
and
money. 

Our
new
Online
Account
Cleanup
can
help
you
delete
unused
and
risky
accounts—and
do
it
in
minutes
instead
of
the
hours
it
used
to
take.


It’s
available
now
as
part
of
our
McAfee+
plans. 

Introducing
McAfee+

Identity
theft
protection
and
privacy
for
your
digital
life

About Author

AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

See author's posts