We surf the Internet for a variety of reasons, from using social media, buying and selling goods, to sending information. When we give out private data to businesses and other Internet users (such as while filling up some forms or making payments online), we trust them to use that information for legitimate purposes. This isn't always the case though and financial and personal data can be used for harmful reasons like hacking, stalking and identity fraud. Identity fraud is when personal details that have been accessed or stolen are used to commit fraudulent acts posing as someone else with stolen identity.
Most common solution to this is : Private browsing or Anonymous Browsing on Internet. Before we talk about this, let us talk about what happens when you norrnally browse the Internet.
1. Many Ways Website Tracks you
Whenever you visit a website, your web browser may reveal your location via your device's IP address. It can also provide your search and browsing history etc. which may be used by third parties, like advertisers or criminals. This way websites track you. Tracking is generally used by advertising networks to build up detailed profiles for pinpoint ad-targeting even tracking down users for special purpose such as effecting their political choices. Recall the data tracking reported in US elections, Brazil elections and many more.
The type of information is compiled through your web usage patterns, and which websites generally use for tracking you. This generally includes :
(a) IP Address
IP address is a unique address of your device when you connect to the Internet. It's likely that your computer shares your IP address with the other networked devices in your house or office. From your IP address, a website can determine your rough geographical location.
(b) Cookies and Tracking Scripts
Cookies are small pieces of information websites can store in your browser. They have plenty of legitimate uses — for example, when you sign into your online-banking website, a cookie remembers your login information. When you change a setting on a website, a cookie stores that setting so it can persist across page loads and sessions e.g., you change the zoom percentage of your webpage, then this setting will reflect on all opened webpages — because this was stored in a cookie. Cookies can also identify you and track your browsing activity across a website.
Cookies can be :
(i) First party cookies. These are the cookies that store your own login id, passwords, auto fill information etc. for some websites that you frequently visit.
(ii) Third party cookies. These are the cookies that websites store to know about your search history and web browsing history so as to place advertisements as per your interests.
Third party cookies may result in many unwanted advertisements on your webpages.
(c) HTTP Referrer
When you click a link, your browser loads the web page linked to it and tells the website where you came from. For example, if you clicked a link to an outside website on a webpage e.g., (see figure below) then the linked website will get opened and internally information about you such as your IP address, location, your web browser, machine type etc. will also be provided to the linked website — it is known as the HTTP referrer.
(d) Super Cookies
Super cookies are also cookies but these are persistent cookies, i.e., they come back even after you delete them. Super cookies (like evercookie) store cookie data in multiple places — for example, in Flash cookies, Silverlight storage, your browsing history, and HTML5 local storage etc.
When a website notices that you've deleted part of the super cookie, the information is repopulated from the other location. For example, you might clear your browser cookies and not your Flash cookies, so the website will copy the value of the Flash cookies to your browser cookies.
(e) User Agent
Your browser also sends a user agent every time you connect to a website. This tells websites your browser and operating system, providing another piece of data that can be stored and used to target ads.
All the above things leak your identity information to websites and it may be used against you. Solution to this is Private browsing and Anonymous browsing. Let us learn what is this type of browsing.
2. Private Browsing and Anonymous Browsing
Anonymous browsers allow users to view websites without revealing any personal information of the user like their IP address, machine type, location etc. An anonymous browser lets users access websites anonymously. It can be used as a tool for governments, journalists and everyday security-conscious surfers.
There is another type of browsing — Private browsing.
Private Browsing :
There are other ways to use the Internet without revealing your search history and sharing your data. These are:
》Incognito browsing opens up a version of the browser that will not track your activity. It's particularly useful if you're entering sensitive data like bank details into the browser, as it can minimise the risk of your information being saved to that computer. It can also be used for purposes like — to look at surprise gifts for the family without leaving clues, searching for hotel rooms for your vacation, filling examination forms etc. But this information is still visible to your school, university or organization. You may also use private browsers and search engines like DuckDuckgo.
》Proxy works by acting as a middleman between your computer and the website you want to access. Now the tracking website will get the IP address and information that belongs to the proxy site, so you are effectively getting the same content from another source without it getting to know your browsing details.
》Virtual Private Network or a VPN is a method used to add security and privacy to private and public networks, like WiFi hotspots and the Internet. VPNs are most often used by corporations to protect sensitive data. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) were originally meant for business employees working offsite to gain access to shared drives or networks. Nowadays, you can set up a VPN at home to protect yourself from hackers trying to access your sensitive information.
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