Digital Spring Cleaning: Experts Advise Clearing Accounts and Devices for Security and Performance

As spring cleaning sweeps through homes, cybersecurity experts urge a similar approach to digital lives. Tidying up electronic devices and online accounts is not just about organization; it's a crucial step in protecting personal data from potential threats.

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Clutter is fuel for scammers. Old accounts, exposed data and forgotten apps give them more ways in.

Michael Sherwood, a product vice president at Malwarebytes, emphasizes that digital clutter acts as "fuel for scammers." Dormant accounts, exposed data, and forgotten applications provide cybercriminals with numerous entry points. He advises that cleaning up one's digital life is one of the simplest methods to "shrink your attack surface" in an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape.

Beyond security, digital decluttering offers practical benefits. Devices often run low on storage space due to accumulated photos, videos, and downloaded files, which can lead to slower performance or prevent critical operating system updates. Users can manage storage by utilizing built-in tools on their devices, archiving important files to external drives or cloud storage, and then deleting them from the device.

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Cleaning up your digital life is one of the simplest ways to shrink your attack surface in a threat landscape that's getting smarter, faster, and more automated.

Email inboxes, often overflowing with notifications, receipts, newsletters, and statements, can also be decluttered. Sorting emails by size, sender, or date can help identify and delete unnecessary messages. Unsubscribing from unread mailing lists further streamlines the inbox. Additionally, deleting unused apps from phones and closing associated dormant accounts is recommended, as these abandoned logins can be targeted by scammers.

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Every dormant account is an open door. Scammers actively target abandoned logins because no one's watching.