In today’s connected world, personal information spreads further and faster than most people realise. Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and even details about relatives or past homes routinely appear on data broker sites, people-search platforms, marketing databases and old online profiles.
For UK residents this creates real risks: unwanted marketing, phishing attempts, identity fraud and the simple loss of privacy.
Fortunately, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 give individuals strong rights. You can ask organisations what data they hold, request corrections, object to certain uses (such as direct marketing) and, in many circumstances, demand erasure of data. This is often called “right to be forgotten.”
Exercising these rights manually across hundreds of companies is time-consuming, so a combination of good daily habits and specialist removal services offers the most practical defence.
Steps to Protect Your Personal Data
- Prevention remains the strongest first line of defence. Start with strong, unique passwords for every important account and store them in a reputable password manager. Enable two-factor or two-step authentication wherever it is offered; this single measure blocks the majority of account takeovers even if a password is compromised.
- Consider using passphrases instead of a password. Passphrases are just a long password based on a phrase that is easier to remember than a bunch of random letters and numbers. It should not contain any personal information or be based off any existing, commonly used phrase. It should still contain at least 1 uppercase letter and 1 special character (eg. #!@&) so it will meet password validation requirements.
- Review privacy settings on social media, email and shopping platforms regularly. Limit who can see your posts, turn off unnecessary location services and restrict third-party app permissions. When browsing, avoid logging into sensitive accounts on public Wi-Fi without a virtual private network (VPN). Keep devices and software updated.
- When disposing of an old phone, laptop or tablet, perform a full factory reset and, where possible, use secure deletion tools so residual data cannot easily be recovered. Be cautious about the information you share online – even seemingly harmless details can be pieced together by data brokers. Finally, opt out of the Open Register version of the electoral roll through your local electoral registration officer; this single free step significantly reduces the personal details available to major UK people-search sites such as 192.com.
Have I Been Pwned?
A great resource for discovering if your data has been exposed is a free service called Have-I-Been-Pwned created by Cybersecurity researcher and Microsoft MVP Troy Hunt. (See online slang Pwned definition).
Simply punch your email address into their search box and it will show you all the data hacks your email is linked to. If you find some services you didn’t know had been hacked, I highly recommend changing and strengthing your password on those services ASAP!
Exercising Your Rights to Remove Data
Under UK GDPR you can contact any organisation that processes your personal data and request erasure when:
- the data is no longer needed for its original purpose
- you withdraw consent
- you object to marketing
- processing was unlawful
Organisations normally have one calendar month to respond (extendable in complex cases).
You can also submit a subject access request (SAR) to obtain a copy of the data they hold. In practice, data brokers and people-search sites rarely make removal straightforward.
Recommended Services for UK Users
DeleteMe – Remove Personal Data from the Internet
DeleteMe is one of the longer-established options and explicitly supports UK residents through its international service. After you create a profile with names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, the service searches data-broker databases and submits removal requests. It provides regular privacy reports showing what was found and removed, and it continues monitoring so that reappearing records can be tackled again. Plans are available for individuals and families. While much of its automated coverage focuses on US and international brokers, UK users can still benefit from reduced exposure on the many global sites that hold British personal data. DeleteMe’s human-supported approach and clear reporting make it a solid choice for those who prefer detailed updates on progress.
Incogni
Incogni, operated by the team behind Surfshark, is frequently recommended for UK and European users. It covers more than 420 data brokers with automated removal requests and uses UK GDPR and equivalent laws to strengthen those requests. One subscription works across the UK, EU and other supported regions, and higher-tier plans allow additional custom removals. Incogni rescans regularly (typically every 60–90 days) and provides a clear dashboard so you can see how many requests have been sent, completed or are still in progress. Independent reviews often highlight its automation and relative value, making it a strong complement or alternative to DeleteMe for British residents.
Neither service fully automates removal from every UK-specific broker (sites such as 192.com, Tracesmart or PeopleTraceUK often still require direct action). The most effective strategy therefore combines a service such as DeleteMe or Incogni for the high-volume international and US-oriented brokers with targeted manual requests and electoral-roll opt-outs for the remaining UK sources. You can also use free tools or templates from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website when contacting individual companies.
Do Virtual Private Networks (VPN) Protect My Data?
A VPN serves a few purposes related to privacy, but it does not stop businesses and government departments from collecting your personal data. Most data that organisations store are voluntarily supplied by the user or are passed on from a 3rd party entity who you initially supplied your details to.
A VPN only stops hackers or law enforcement from seeing what websites and services you are accessing on the Internet. But you can be connected on a VPN and still voluntarily submit your peronsal data to a site that may leak or abuse that data later on. For example, if you’re connected to a VPN, you may create a new online bank account. Whilst your data is safe from hackers whilst you’re using the VPN, you are still handing over private information such as name and address to the bank via their online form. They will then store your information and the VPN becomes irrelevant in this situation.
Staying Private in the Future
Protecting and removing personal data is an ongoing effort.
New brokers appear, old records resurface and organisations continue to collect information. It’s difficult to avoid handing over personal information when we all want to purchase goods and services.
To protect yourself now and in the future, start adopting strong everyday security habits, exercising your UK GDPR rights when needed, and using a reputable removal service such as DeleteMe or Incogni to handle the bulk of broker requests, you significantly shrink your digital footprint.
Start with the free steps — update passwords and authentication, check privacy settings, opt out of the Open Register — then decide whether the time saved by a paid service justifies the cost for your situation. Over time the combination of personal vigilance and automated assistance gives most people far greater control over who holds their information and what is done with it. In an age when data is constantly harvested, that control is worth protecting.
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