Daily Archives: February 19, 2017

Banks, retailers and advertisers can track your online activity using Web "fingerprinting" techniques, but these methods usually only work across a single browser. Now, however, new technology can follow you anywhere online -- even if you switch browsers.

The new tech makes it possible to establish a unique online fingerprint based not on browser features but on features of a user's operating system and computer hardware, according to a new study by researchers at Lehigh University and Washington University. The cross-browser fingerprinting technique identifies users with an accuracy of 99.24 percent, compared to AmIUnique's "state-of-the-art" accuracy of 90.84 percent across a single browser, according to the researchers.

While acknowledging the fingerprinting method could be used for undesirable purposes that violate online privacy, the researchers said the technique could also help service providers authenticate users for improved security.

Tracking Tech Evolving Fast

In their paper, researchers Yinzhi Cao and Song Li of Lehigh University and Erik Wijmans of Washington University in St. Louis described their cross-browser fingerprinting technique as the first to use "many novel OS and hardware features, especially computer graphics ones" to establish identities and track individual online users. They provided both a working demo and open source code online.

"Web tracking is a debatable technique used to remember and recognize past website visitors," the researchers noted. "On the one hand, web tracking can authenticate users -- and particularly a combination of different web tracking techniques can be used for multifactor authentication to strengthen security. On the other hand, web tracking can also be used to deliver personalized service -- if the service is undesirable, e.g., some unwanted, targeted ads, such tracking is a violation of privacy."

Whether people like it or not, Web tracking technology is widely used and evolving quickly, the researchers added, noting that "more than 90 [percent] of Alexa Top 500 Web sites adopt web tracking."

Possible Defenses: Tor, Virtualization

Cao, Li and Wijmans said their tracking technique outperforms the only other cross-browser fingerprinting technique, which uses IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to track user activity. That technique doesn't work when IP addresses are dynamically allocated -- as when users browse via mobile networks -- or changed by switching from home networks to office networks, they said.

By contrast, the new cross-browser tracking technique might even work with some installations of the Tor browser, which normally prevents browser fingerprinting, according to the researchers. They said their technique could probably be blocked by using the Tor browser with its default settings intact or by using machine virtualization, although the latter technique has the disadvantage of being "heavyweight."

For many online users, Web tracking is a daily issue. The most common sign of being tracked online is when users see ads on different Web sites for products or services they searched for earlier on different sites.

Privacy-focused organizations have developed a number of tools to help users minimize the impact of such tracking. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for example, offers a tracking tester called Panopticlick that lets users analyze and tweak their browsers and add-ons to maximize privacy protections.

Cao, Li and Wijmans plan to present their research at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium scheduled for Feb. 26 through March 1 in San Diego.

Image Credit: iStock.

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New 'Fingerprinting' Tech Can Track You Anywhere Online ... - NewsFactor Network

It may only be a slight exaggeration that companies know more about you than you do about yourself.

Fire up your cell phone or laptop if you have any doubts. Companies can predict what you want to buy and show you ads for them. They know your birthday. They can even tell when your teenage daughter is pregnant.

(I'm not making that last one up. Target famously made that discovery a few years ago.)

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In a series of recent surveysconducted by the Previous Pew Research Center, Americans consumers say they're afraid they've lost control of their personal information and that companies aren't doing enough to protect the customer data they collect. A majority of Americans (64 percent) have personally experienced a major data breach, the poll found.

"People are interested in disappearing online," says Caleb Chen, who specializes in digital currency issues for London Trust Media, a provider of private internet products. "It's a sign of the times."

Lowering your profile is possible with a few simple steps and the right technology. But absolute anonymity online may be difficultperhaps even impossibleto achieve.

"The ability to eliminate your online footprint completely is a myth," says David Cox, the CEO of LiquidVPN, a service that helps protect your location identity online. "However, there are many ways we can minimize our online footprint."

One simple way to sweep up that trail of electronic breadcrumbs you leave is to instruct your browser to not be promiscuous with your personal information. For example, you can tell Chrome to disallow a site to track your physical location under Preferences and then by clicking Settings, followed by Advanced and Content Settings.

A lock icon, signifying an encrypted Internet connection, is seen on an Internet Explorer browser in a photo illustration in Paris April 15, 2014. Reuters

You can switch to a more privacy-conscious web search engine, like DuckDuckGo.com, that doesn't collect or share personal information, or use "incognito" mode on your browser, which doesn't share any personal data with the site you're visiting.

"Also, stay logged out of online services such as Gmail and Facebook," says Michael Gregg, president of Houston-based Superior Solutions Inc., an IT consulting firm. "That makes it harder for third parties to track your activity."

The strategy is sound. If you don't want everyone knowing who you are, you first have to stop telling everyone who you are. You can start by checking the privacy settings on your favorite social network, which may or may not be easy to find.

For example, on Facebook, you have to click on the arrow next to the question mark on the top left of your screen. Go to "Privacy" to review and change your account settings. On Twitter, you have to click on "Profile and settings" and then "Security and privacy."

No, they don't like to make it easyand for obvious reasons. That's how social networks make their money. You are the product.

It shouldn't take long to significantly diminish your digital footprint. But there's still some work to be done before it's eliminated.

A VPN, or virtual private network, is an application that encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through an intermediary server. As a result, the devices address is masked and third parties can't track you.

"Most VPN providers utilize shared IP addresses on their servers," explains Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate for Comparitech.com, a services comparison site. "Multiple usersdozens, hundreds, and even thousandsare assigned a single IP address. This makes it nearly impossible to trace the activity of a single person in the pool."

As an added bonus, a VPN allows you to effectively change your location with the click of a button. So if you're in New York but you want your browser to think you're in London, you can easily do that.

If you're serious about eliminating your digital trail, you might also consider switching to the Tor Browser. Tor is a network of volunteer-operated servers that helps improve your privacy and security on the Internet. It works by creating a series of virtual tunnels rather than making a direct connection, which allows you to connect to places online without making a direct connection.

"Think of Tor surfing as taking a flight with stopovers instead of a nonstop," explains S. Adam Rizzieri, the director of digital marketing for SevenTablets.com, a developer of mobile apps. "The traveler is your internet activity, which is comprised of packets of information. In a direct flight, the traveleryour packet of informationgoes from Point A to B and the originating flight is clear. In Tor browsing, you have layovers. You still get to Point B, but your point of origin is cloaked by layovers at Points C and D."

And as you might expect, it does make the browsing experience a little slower. But no one will know who you are.

You can also scramble your message securely before sending it, which protects your identity and the information.

"If attackers can't decipher or read any of the emails, their efforts are largely stymied and the owner of the email address maintains strong privacy and anonymity when it comes to their information being protected," says Bill Bullock, the CEO of SecureMyEmail, which offers an encrypted email product.

There are hundreds of encryption products, far too many to mention in a single story. But they're fairly easy to use and often cost little or nothing. For example, a service likeVirtu, which is a simple extension to your Chrome browser, offers military-grade encryption, allows you to control forwarding, permits you to take a message back and even expire an email.

But many of today's encryption solutions are cumbersome to use, forcing the recipient to download software before they can read your message.

Maybe it's worth pausing for a moment to ask how we got to this place. How did all of our personal information get carelessly strewn across the internet? While there are many reasons for why companies seem to know so much about us, and why we know comparatively little about them, one explanation seems inescapable: consumers collectively assigned almost no value to their privacy for too long.

And here we are.

In a world without secrets, these steps can ensure that you'll keep a few more of yours. Checking your privacy settings, switching browsers, using a VPN and adding encryption can certainly help.

"But there's only one surefire way to be invisible online," says Ed Brancheau, the chief executive of the digital marketing agency Goozleology. "Don't go online."

Consumer advocateChristopher Elliott's latest book isHow To Be The Worlds Smartest Traveler(National Geographic). You can get real-time answers to any consumer question on his new forum,elliott.org/forum, or by emailing him at chris@elliott.org.

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How to Stay (Mostly) Anonymous Online - Newsweek - Newsweek