Browserprints reveal personal details and these are not just cookies

The browser finger prints or browserprints – the way one uses their browser to go to different sites – can leak the identity, location, preference amongst other personal information to hackers.

Web browser could be tracked across websites without using cookies and can reveal the identity of the user and even make him/her vulnerable to attack and monitoring by companies and even hackers, as per a research conducted at the University of Adelaide.

Browserprints cannot be removed by clearing history as the personal information gets pooled in the gaps between the websites being visited. Clearing browsing history, as per the research would not make any difference. Before one attempts to clear the history, the information is already out in open posing security threats.

Not even the hackers, the companies also indirectly haunt the security and privacy by tracking the information and advertising their content in the most ‘regular’ ways. The ‘advertisments’ might escape the filters and even send unwanted and unprotected emails to users’ inbox. Also, the contact details including the email id, phone number, IP addresses, etc. can also be traced down via the browserprint tracking mechanism.

Researchers at the University of Adelaide are working to find new methods of protecting against the fingerprinting of personal computers – and are now giving members of the community the chance to see firsthand their own computer browserprint.

SNEAKERS