Tag Archives: information security & privacy

User Privacy: Chrome Floc is going to block third party cookies. Not good for ads business

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Abstract

If Google sticks to its roadmap, by this time next year Chrome will no longer allow websites to use third-party cookies, which are cookies that come from outside their own domains. The change theoretically makes it vastly more difficult for advertisers to track your activities on the web and then serve you targeted ads.

…

Because of course Google doesn’t want to kneecap the online ad industry — the one it dominates and from which it makes all its money. Instead, Google wants to replace the third-party tracking cookie with a complicated set of (bird-themed) technologies that are meant to let ad companies target specific demographics like age and location, while at the same time allowing the people who are targeted to remain anonymous. 

Read more in

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22358287/privacy-ads-google-chrome-floc-cookies-cookiepocalypse-finger-printing?mc_cid=f99c562331&mc_eid=35079f6e24

You should know how Facebook stalks you on the internet

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Facebook data breach has put Facebook fans at the risk of mis-using their data. It is not only issue with the Facebook. In recent findings, People has discovered how Facebook stalks each and everyone of us on the internet.

If you are interested in downloading your own data, you can do that too.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/help/1701730696756992

Explore Off-Facebook activity here: In Facebook setting, Facebook has given an option to the user to disable off-facebook activity. We are not sure if Facebook will not stalk you however at least you should use to limit the stalking by these social media.

Fuure off
Still stalking

Privacy features in iOS 14

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Abstract

Apple has launched iOS version 14 and it has lots of good features however, most noticeable features are in privacy and security. Here is the list of major privacy features:

  • Not Every App Can Access Your Precise Geo location
  • Password Monitoring
  • Privacy Report
  • Camera/Mic Recording Indicator: Recording light when an app is using your iPhone’s camera or microphone 
  • Control On Cross-App Tracking
  • Limited Photos Library Access for Selected App
  • many more..

Read more in for details

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2020/06/23/apple-ios-14-revealed-3-awesome-iphone-security-features-youll-want-now/#2f45b066e7a6

https://thehackernews.com/2020/06/ios14-macos-big-sur-privacy.html

Good Read: Can you trust Tor’s exit nodes?

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Abstract

Tor is the encrypted, anonymous way to browse the web that keeps you safe from prying eyes, right?

Well, no, not always.

Blogger and security researcher Chloe spent a month tempting unscrupulous Tor exit node operators with a vulnerable honeypot website to see if anyone was looking for passwords to steal.

In all, the trap sprung for twelve exit nodes, raising a finger of suspicion for them and reminding us that you can’t get complacent about security even if you’re using Tor.

Tor is a bit of heavy duty open source security software that’s famously used to access anonymous, hidden services (the so-called Dark Web) but, more commonly, used as a way to access the regular internet anonymously and in a way that’s resistant to surveillance.

Tor (short for The Onion Router) works by sending your encrypted network traffic on an eccentric journey between Tor ‘nodes’. At each step along the way each Tor node helps keep you safe by never knowing what’s in your message and never knowing more about your data’s journey than the node it came from and the next one it’s going to.

Read more in

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/06/25/can-you-trust-tors-exit-nodes/

Browser privacy study: Brave browser is best for privacy & fast browsing

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Abstract

We study six browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Brave Browser, Microsoft Edge and Yandex Browser. Chrome is by far the most popular browser, followed by Safari and Firefox. Between them these browsers are used for the great majority of web access. Brave is a recent privacyorientated browser, Edge is the new Microsoft browser and Yandex is popular amongst Russian speakers (second only to Chrome).

In summary, based on our measurements we find that the browsers split into three distinct groups from this privacy perspective.

  • In the first (most private) group lies Brave
  • In the second Chrome, Firefox and Safari
  • And in the third (least private) group lie Edge and Yandex.

Used “out of the box” with its default settings Brave is by far the most private of the browsers studied. We did not find any use of identifiers allowing tracking of IP address over time, and no sharing of the details of web pages visited with backend servers

References

Web Browser Privacy: What Do Browsers Say When They Phone Home? https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf

Brave beats other browsers in privacy study

Brave beats other browsers in privacy study