We’re only a couple of months into the year, but there’s already been a slew of high-profile data breaches terrorising people online, with an eye-watering 26 billion accounts leaked by cybercriminals — an illegal database dubbed the “mother of all breaches” by security experts, followed by scammers accessing 15,000 Roku accounts and spending money on the saved payment details. And the trend shows no sign of slowing. Within the last few days, AT&T has informed people about a data leak with personal information from more than 7.6 million current customers and 65 million former customers of the US mobile network.
How can you protect yourself from these data breaches?
The answer could be an ingenious feature developed by the team at Surfshark VPN, known as Alternative ID. As the name implies, this generates a new fictional identity to use for online profiles.
Alternative ID can generate a new email address, with messages auto-forwarded to your primary email address. It can also dream up a new gender, age, birth date, and country for every online profile, with data automatically populated in online forms with a click.
If the worst should happen and hackers steal customers’ data from the website — your real name, age, or email address remains safely under wraps. Simply cancel the persona created with Alternative ID and start again with fresh details.
Surfshark lets you create and manage three different personas, which can be used to set-up accounts with websites, mobile apps, newsletters, and other services that you don't entirely trust with your personal information
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Surfshark VPN lets you manage three personas at any one time.
When it launched in July 2023, Surfshark charged extra for the security-focused feature. However, it’s now included at no extra cost for Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ bundles. That includes new and existing subscribers, who can manage their personas from the Surfshark app or website.
Speaking about the importance of the data breach-proof feature, Product Manager at Surfshark, Sarunas Sereikasaid: "People are constantly asked by websites to provide their personal information, including name, address, and email. At the same time, we can see that data breaches are happening more and more rapidly, and data brokers are also actively buying and selling user data.
"With Alternative ID, users can minimize their online footprint and enhance their privacy while maintaining their freedom online and being able to sign up on websites or subscribe to newsletters without worry."
Surfshark is aware that its feature is competing with temporary inboxes, which generate an email address and let you check incoming messages for 10 minutes or so before everything is wiped. According to Mr Sereikasaid, the reason to pick Alternative ID is the military-grade AES-256 encryption — the same used for its award-winning VPN service — that shields your data.
Surfshark says it only gathers what’s essential to keep the persona system up and running, so it won’t be keeping logs on any received emails. Once anAlternative ID email is modified or wiped, Surfshark will disconnect it entirely from the linked (and very real) inbox.
Mr Sereikasaid added: “What sets us apart from many other service providers is our dedication to prioritizing credibility, transparent privacy policies, and ensuring a safe and reliable experience for our users. Furthermore, we provide a flexible option that allows you to enjoy our services for as long as you desire.”
Surfshark One starts from under £2.50 per month, with Surfshark One+ costing £1 more.
