Internet

So you can delete all the data from your web browser

In this tutorial we are going to see what data is stored in our Internet browser. Although they may not seem like it, they can be valuable both for cybercriminals and for companies that are dedicated to monitoring our activity and then showing us advertising. Therefore, one of the best ways that we can use to defend ourselves is to erase all the data from the Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Edge browsers on a regular basis.

What information our internet browser saves

When we visit a website we can give information both to that page we enter and to the browser itself. One of the most used browsers today is Chrome, both at the desktop and mobile level. Like other browsers, it collects information in three different categories.

The first would be the analytics where it seeks to know the approximate location, the browsing history and the user and device identifiers. To this we would have to add the usage data, and the fault and performance diagnostics to detect problems. The second would be the product customizationThanks to the approximate location, our browsing history and user or device identifier will end up showing us advertising of products in which we have been interested. The third would be application functionality where one of the most important elements is financial information such as payment details.

In case you don’t know, any browser can currently store the following information:

  • A cache with the files and images of the websites that we visit most frequently. Thus, then they will load faster.
  • Cookies and other site data.
  • Browsing history.
  • Saving forms for self-completion.

One of the most important are cookies, and it is the one that we will deal with in greater depth. As it stores a lot of our private information, it is necessary to erase all the browser data from time to time. A good time would be to do it weekly.

What is a cookie and why its theft is dangerous

A cookie It is a file with information sent by a website that is stored in our browser. The objective is that this web page can consult the previous activity. For example, they indicate, among other things, that that user has visited it previously. We can say that cookies have two functions:

  1. Remember access, so it remembers our tastes and shows us or not certain content. On the other hand, if a user enters their username and password, it is saved in the cookie so you don’t have to write it down every time you visit that website.
  2. Allow to know information regarding our browsing habits. The downside is that they can sometimes cause privacy issues.

In addition, through the use of cookies, the behavior of Internet users is tracked. This helps companies to show us more personalized ads.

Hacker-Cybercriminal

Hackers know the value of a cookie and that is why they use different techniques to steal it. Cookie theft or the cookie scraping (Cookie Scraping) is also known as session hijacking or cookie hijacking. In these types of attacks, the attacker takes over the victim’s session. The session begins when the user logs in to a service, for example Internet banking, and ends when that session closes. The attack is based on the knowledge that these cybercriminals have about the user’s session cookies. Thus they use techniques such as Session Sniffing or translated, session sniffing, Session Fixation or session fixation, cross-site scripting (XSS) attack and also malware attacks.

In this sense, with the information about the theft of cookies from the victims, it is possible to obtain private information of users What:

  • Credit card details.
  • Login information for different accounts.

Regarding the way in which they can take advantage of those stolen cookies, it would be:

  • Selling the information on the dark web.
  • Use that information for phishing.
  • Using our accounts for illegal activities to obtain information by impersonating us or carrying out Phishing attacks.

For this reason, deleting all the data from the browser on a regular basis is positive.

Adware Tracking Cookie and its relationship with advertising

As for cookies, one of the elements that can most affect us in addition to theft is advertising. Here we would highlight the Adware Tracking Cookie We could say that it is a tracking type cookie that is used to obtain information about the browsing habits of users. They are usually related to advertising companies that have an agreement with a website. They do not obtain confidential information from the user, but they do collect browsing data from the websites we visit.

If an analysis of our computer detects an Adware Tracking Cookie, we should not be alarmed. However, it does not hurt that we proceed to erase all browser data, especially in this case with attention to cookies.

So you can delete all the data from the web browser

Google Chrome

The first browser that we are going to see is Google Chrome. Without a doubt, right now the most popular of the moment. To do this, we go to the upper right corner and click on the three vertical points.

On the left we click on Privacy & Security and then we touch on Clear browsing data.

In section Weather we select Since ever, we mark the options as above and touch the button Delete data.

Mozilla Firefox

Now we go with the Firefox browser. In this case also in the upper right corner we click on the icon of the three horizontal lines and then click on Choices.

Then on the left we click on Privacy & Security and we go to the section Cookies and site data.

Then in Users and passwords we select the options that come up and click on Clean data. Then in Record we will finish by pressing the button Clear History and with this we are done with Firefox.

Edge

If we want to delete all the data from the Edge browser, we go to the upper right corner, click on the icon selected in the red box and click on Setting.

The next step we have to take is to click on Setting. Next, we look on the left Privacy, search and services, there we have to go to the section Clear browsing data and press the button Choose what to erase.

In this case in time interval we put Forever, we select the categories as in the image above and click on the button Delete now.

Opera

The last one we have left is the Opera browser. On the left in a sidebar with an icon of a gear we access the settings and select Advanced.

There we have to go to the section Privacy & Security where we will click on Clear browsing data. Then a screen like this will appear to us:

On Interval of time we choose Since ever, we select all the options and click on the button Clear the data.

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