In a digital era where keeping sensitive financial information and business secrets as well as personal aspects of your private life under wraps is increasingly difficult, using a search engine that doesn’t leave a trace for hackers, marketers and the all-seeing eye of the NSA is a big deal.

It’s also big business. In a year filled with major cybersecurity news, the Paoli-based search engine company DuckDuckGo saw its users eclipse a billion searches in 2013, according to a recent CBS Philly report.

“We’ve been growing a lot, and we think that what we do — real privacy and smarter answers — appeals to a decent percentage of people,” said founder Gabriel Weinberg in the article.

DuckDuckGo has also just expanded its offerings to include searches of images, recipes, and local information, along with automatic search recommendations.

Read more about the company’s milestone achievement on CBS Philly here.

Links: http://duckduckgo.com/