Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Hackers reported to be tracking browser history

Surprising though it may seem, there are loads of people who use computers that have nothing to hide, or if they do have something to hide, they don't know how to. That means that they leave their browsing history intact, and unless they have left some kind of standing order for their favourite browser, records of every site they have visited in the last few days, weeks and months will remain intact and for all to see.

Internet researchers are now pointing out that a reasonable percentage of the web's most popular sites have discovered a flaw that will allow in browser security that will allow them to access and read the browser history of anyone who has visited their site. Needless to say, the sites in question focus on porn, online gaming and downloading films and audio illegally.

One thing that is for sure that if the " good guys" of internet security research have come across this phenomenon known as history sniffing, the " bad guys" won't be far behind, if they haven't got there already.

The flaw stems from the almost exclusive use these days of a software development language know as cascading style sheeting (CSS ) to produce web sites, CSS has become so popular among web developers due to its ease of use. However it now appears that this ease of use comes with a price, yet one that need not be paid.

The problem lies in the ability to ascertain which site has been visited by checking back on a sites visited links, which can then be accessed automatically by a piece of simple code and traced back as far as the browser's history has not been eliminated, which can amount to several thousand of web sites.

While researchers are yet to pinpoint a reason, other than commercial curiosity, why any third party would want to have details of anyone's browser history, hackers being hackers will soon come up with a way to use this information to their nefarious benefit.

That's why browser history should be erased on a regular basis, and to make doubly sure, a powerful anti-virus program should always be in place on your computer. That way you will be protected whatever and whenever the cyber criminals come up with their latest plot.

 

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