Cookies are little bits of information that help a website know if you have been there before and may include login information so you don’t have to manually sign in again. Advertisers also use cookies to keep track of demographics and where they go in order to present them with customized advertisements.
Are cookies dangerous? Generally no, but they have potential for privacy concerns. I take the general rule as to be suspicious of everything on the net especially things that store's anything onto your computer. The data contained in a cookie is information that you give to a website including your operating system, web browser, even credit card number. There have been ways for people to intercept cookies and then login to your account as if it was there own. There have also been dictionary attacks where the malicious computer receives your cookie and then puts it up against a list of other codes that are decrypted so if you use a common password its easier for them to find a match. I’m not sure if any of these things pose a threat anymore, none the less it means cookies are not 100% harmless. No, cookies aren’t the biggest threat out there, but they can pose one if your concerned about security. The best things to do about it are know what cookies are, what they do if you need them from a site and customize how your computer handles cookies. Also make sure to use a strong password along with checking url’s of suspicious sites to see if they are legitimate.
How to customize cookie settings on your web browser:
Fire Fox 2.0.0.6
Click on tools > Options > Privacy Tab
Cookie preferences are in the middle of this tab. You have the choice to accept cookies from sites, reject all cookies, or to get notified of incoming cookies. Generally unless you never login into games, email, Myspace etc you will need to use cookies sometimes otherwise you will be in for a frustrating experience. It gives you the option to keep cookies until they expire, to erase when you close FireFox.
Keeping cookies until they expire: is a default setting, and when your cookies expire then they go away. Low threat tracking cookies will be easily accumulated if you do not set any cookie settings.
Keep cookies until you close FireFox :is another option that doesn’t give you the hassle of customizing each page, however when you reopen your browser you will have to relogin to your key sites.
Keep cookies until: ask me every time - This is the one I opt to use so I can accept or deny any cookies that come my way. It does get a little annoying especially when some sites send you a large amount of cookies of the same name. However when you are notified that a cookie is trying to be placed onto your computer you have the option of setting customizations from there. For example I log into PC World forums, and allow it to stay until it expires so I don’t have to relogin every time I visit. To another site I may not care about logging back into again, I can keep the cookie until I close my browser. FireFox will remember your settings. Generally you can tell which cookies you may need from a site if it matches its name, for example: if ad.doubleclick shows up when you go to YouTube you won’t actually need the cookie to log into the site. If you find yourself stuck reloading a page that just doesn’t seem to want to let you log in go back to your options and click on exceptions. You can either look through the list and find the site that isn’t letting you login or you can simply clear all the exceptions. If you clear all the exceptions but not the cookies themselves you still get to keep yourself logged into the sites of your choice, however you will have to give them permission again when you return so the exceptions will be updated.
Opera 9.32
Tools > Preferences (or Cntrl+F12)
Very similar to FireFox it allows you to accept all cookies, accept cookies only from sites that you visit (thus blocking unwanted cookies from 3rd parties), never to accept cookies, and ask me before accepting cookies. If you have skipped the FireFox description of what your cookie preferences will do go back and take a look. Similarly Opera also has the option of deleting new cookies when you exit the browser. Of course the best customization settings for usability and security will be the ask me before accepting any cookie option. I cannot seem to find an equivalent to show exceptions of cookie settings already in place. You can also mix settings, telling Opera to delete new cookies when exiting, along with asking you before cookies are being placed. Be sure not to uncheck the box that says ask me every time otherwise it will start accepting all cookies again.
Speaking of Opera, I have downloaded it before and didn’t get use to it. However the new design is small and sleek really makes FireFox look clunky. Opera is also more secure not to mention lighter. Some of the new features really got my attention such as Opera’s Speed Dial, it acts like a homepage opening up when you open a new tab where you can simply drag and drop frequently visited webpages into the Speed Dial slots. You can click easy access from there, or simply type the Speed Dial number into your browser. Also I have been messing around with a voice option, where you can give Opera vocal commands such as read this block of text, or reload your page. Unfortunately I couldn't find an equivalent to adblock plus. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough but the Opera Watch blog stated something like 'sites would start blocking Opera if we did that'. Whatever, I'll look around for an equivalent and let you guys know if I do.
Internet Explorer 7
Finally we come to Internet Explorer. Ok some of you may ask why did you put the most popular browser at the bottom? Well its because if your really concerned about security online there’s no point in messing with cookies if your using something as susceptible as Internet Explorer to begin with. Its like putting sun block on an open wound, your going to get infected anyway. So my suggestion to ie users would be to look into FireFox or Opera as an alternative browser. However there are steps available to customize cookie protection in Internet Explorer.
Tools > Internet Options > Privacy Tab
You can move the bar up and down from accepting all cookies, to blocking all cookies and everything in between. As stated before its not really a good idea to reject all cookies because then you cannot log into any sites. Apparently it also has a list of sites that are already blocked. If you wanted to take the time you could manually add in exceptions to be allowed from frequently visited sites however the process would be long and potentially frustrating.
While your never 100% safe if you are connected to the internet cookie security can help improve your privacy and security of your surfing habits.
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