One of the main methods for leaking personal information when using the Internet is our browser. No developer can help you with this.
Personal Information, But what information do we give to our browser? In this article, we will introduce you to ten pieces of information that the browser stores about us.
1- Hardware and software
Your browser stores information about your hardware and software.
Your browser detects your operating system, IP address, browser, and browser plug-ins. In terms of hardware, your browser stores information about CPU, GPS, and battery.
2- Connection information
Your browser detects how you connect to the web. This information includes your IP address and browser speed.
3- Geographical location
A website can pinpoint your geographical location even if you do not have access to GPS. Because these sites use the Google GeoLocation API. Even if you use a browser on a mobile device, it can detect your location within a distance of 48 km. You can use a proxy to prevent leakage of location-related information.
You must disable JavaScript to prevent your browser from using services such as Google GeoLocation. Applications like NoScript do this for you automatically.
4- Browser history
One of the main information that the browser stores about you is your browser history. Of course, you can delete this information. But even then, they may not be completely gone. For example, in mid-2018, it was announced that Google would also store the information it deleted very accurately.
5- Mouse movements
Your browser even stores mouse clicks and clicks on websites.
6- Position of your device
Many smartphones these days have gyroscopes. This feature is available in fitness tracker apps and similar devices.
This information is stored in your browser. Your browser knows that your device has a gyroscope and stores device orientation and other information. Your browser can even detect if your device is on a desk, bag, pocket, or anywhere else
7- Information related to social network
Your browser knows what social media accounts you have. This app stores information related to your social network and provides it to advertising companies to know how and where to target you.
8- Fonts and languages
Your browser knows what fonts are installed on your device and what language you use in your browser.
9- Data related to images
Whenever you upload a photo to your browser, it scans its metadata to learn something about you. This metadata includes information such as location, photo location, technical specifications of the file and even your camera model.
10- Technical information
Your browser also stores technical information about how you access the web. This information includes the company the user is using, touch screen support, Do Not Track feature enabled or disabled, screen size, and more.
How do we know what information our browser has stored?
Because your information is at stake, it is best to check once and for all what information has been received by the browser. You can use two tools to do this, both of which are free.
1- Webkay
Webkay is a test site that scans your browser to see what information it has stored about you that it can share with other sites. For each section you will see results as well as solutions to the problem.
2- Panopticlick
Panopticlick scans your browser to see if your device is being tracked illegally. This tool can send your data to a tracking company to find out if your security software is disclosing your information to other companies. This web application shows you how unique your device is by showing a special fingerprint. In the example above, you can see that our browser is unique among the 2.2 million devices that have used this tool in 45 days.
Browser plug-ins also store this information
Browser plug-ins also store a lot of information about your device. One of the best known is the Chrome Web Store. In June 2018, Andrew Mushkov, the founder of Adguard, found that thousands of popular Store extensions were tracking users. These plugins start saving your information as soon as you open your browser and track Facebook posts, tweets, YouTube videos and ads that are shown to you. Mushkov introduced four main plugins:
• Video Downloader For Facebook with 180 thousand users
PDF Merge: PDF Files Merger with 100,000 users
• Album & Photo Manager For Facebook with 130 thousand users
Pixcam: Webcam Effects with 35,000 users
When lesser known plugins store your information, you may find that lesser known plugins do the same. To prevent this from happening, try to keep your plugins as limited as possible.
Even if your browser does not use this information specifically, other companies may use this information maliciously using your browser’s fingerprint. To prevent this from happening, always use a good browser and get reliable plugins.