#511: Becoming a Ghost Online: 3 Privacy Levels

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Sep 13, 2025

In this discussion, privacy expert Mishaal Khan, founder of OperationPrivacy.com, unveils essential strategies for guarding your online identity. He shares insights into his free dashboard that categorizes privacy into three levels: Conscious, Serious, and Ghost. Discover practical steps like freezing your credit, opting out of data brokers, and using harmless decoys to push down unwanted search results. Mishaal also dives into the importance of manual intervention in maintaining online privacy and offers tips for dealing with personal content removal.

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ADVICE

Expect A Multi-Month Cleanup

Do treat privacy cleanup as a multi-month project and schedule small weekly actions.
Revisit removals repeatedly because some take multiple attempts to succeed.

ADVICE

Use Free Tricks For Credit Monitoring

Use free methods for credit monitoring and exploit vendor rules to extend coverage.
For example, mail Equifax documents to get seven years of free monitoring instead of one.

ADVICE

Track Progress With A Checklist

Do use OperationPrivacy.com as a checklist and tracker for dozens of removal tasks.
Create an account with a throwaway username to avoid giving sites more of your data.

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Big thank you to Proton Pass for sponsoring this video. To sign up for Proton Pass, please use the following link https://proton.me/davidbombal to get a 40% discount At Black Hat, David Bombal sits down with OSINT pro Mishaal Khan to unpack anti-OSINT, practical steps to regain privacy without pricey services. Mishaal demos his free OperationPrivacy dashboard (400+ actions, 3 tiers: Conscious → Serious → Ghost) and shows how to: • Freeze credit & use free monitoring • Opt out of 100+ data brokers (Spokeo, Intelius, LexisNexis, more) • Blur your home on Google/Bing/Apple Maps + real-world deterrents • Claim critical accounts (IRS/DMV/USPS/UPS) and your domain • Nudge page-one results with harmless decoys • File copyright takedowns (Instagram/Google, etc.) US-centric but widely applicable. DIY, trackable, and truthful about the time it takes. // Mishaal Kahn’s SOCIALS // LinkedIn: / mish-aal Website: https://www.mishaalkhan.com/ Tool created: https://www.operationprivacy.com/ // David's SOCIAL // Discord: discord.com/invite/usKSyzb Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidbombal Instagram: www.instagram.com/davidbombal LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davidbombal Facebook: www.facebook.com/davidbombal.co TikTok: tiktok.com/@davidbombal YouTube: / @davidbombal Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3f6k6gE... SoundCloud: / davidbombal Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... // MY STUFF // https://www.amazon.com/shop/davidbombal // SPONSORS // Interested in sponsoring my videos? Reach out to my team here: sponsors@davidbombal.com // MENU // 0:00 – Coming Up 01:31 – Sponsored by ProtonPass 03:00 – Introduction 05:44 – Operation Privacy Demo 07:49 – How to Freeze Your Credit 08:41 – Credit Monitoring Explained 09:19 – Managing Subscriptions 10:13 – Data Removal (Outbound Requests) 12:40 – Should You Use Automatic Removal? 14:03 – Protecting Your Privacy 15:41 – Why Privacy Takes Time 17:46 – Planting Your Privacy Flag 19:56 – Ghost Mode & SOE Manipulation 22:47 – Getting Content Removal Forms 23:40 – Taking a Holistic Approach to Privacy 25:08 – Final Thoughts / Outro Please note that links listed may be affiliate links and provide me with a small percentage/kickback should you use them to purchase any of the items listed or recommended. Thank you for supporting me and this channel! Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only.