Relationship between Cookies and Cyber Security

In this blog post, we will discuss the relationship between Cookies and Cyber Security. Before we continue, let’s first focus on understanding the concept of Cyber Security and Cookies one by one. 

Concept of Cyber Security

In today’s digital world, we all know the importance of privacy. We want to keep our personal information safe from cybercriminals. Hackers pose a major threat to individuals and organizations.  

Hence, the domain of Cyber Security plays an important role to keep our personal information or data safe that we store in various electronic devices that generally we use in our daily life like PC or laptops, Mobile Phones etc. from the attacks of Cybercriminals or Hackers. 

In Cyber Security, any organization or company can protect their networks from Cybercriminals and Hackers. Hackers typically target servers to steal an organization or company’s personal and financial data. 

Concept of Cookies

1. Cookies, also known as Internet or Web or Browser Cookies are generally considered as small files which are stored on user’s computer to find out the past activity of user on any particular website whenever he/she makes visit to access the website in future. 

2. For example, if a user visits a website with pages that request personal information such as name, email, home, or work address. When the user gives personal information to access these pages, the browser stores the information as Cookies. The user can access this information in the future when revisiting the website. 

3. Many people get confused that both Cookie and Cache are same thing but they are not. The major difference between Cookie and Cache is that Cookie stores information or data on the browser for the website which has been accessed by the user in the past. Cache stores information or data online with the purpose of speeding up user’s access to the browser. 

4. There are 3 types of Cookies that are most common in use today:  

• Session Cookies: It is a temporary cookie which gets destroyed after the closure of a website. The Session Cookies are usually kept in a temporary memory and they don’t store any data on the user’s system or device instead they use Session Identifiers to store data which doesn’t recognize the user directly.

• Persistent Cookies: In contrast to Session Cookies, these cookies are stored in hard drive of User’s PC permanently unless or until User deletes it manually. That’s why they are also known as Permanent or Stored Cookies.

• Third-party Cookies: As the name suggests, these types of Cookies are used by any third party on a website for specific purposes. These types of Cookies are used for advertisement purposes generally. We often see ads which are related to some relevant search done on search sites or online shopping sites. These types of Cookies present a major threat of cyber-attacks and even ransomware attacks.

Cookies and Cybercrimes : What’s The Relationship?

Cookies are usually risk-free, but Cybercriminals can use them to access user accounts through impersonation and they can fool the users to visit dangerous and harmful websites which contains malware through hiding codes of Stolen Cookies. 

Cybercriminals can use these Stolen Cookies to make website inaccessible on web browsers for users. Instead of sending one Cookie to the web server, Cybercriminals can modify to send hundreds of Stolen Cookies so that user should not be able to access these websites unless or until removal of these Stolen Cookies is not done. 

These Stolen Cookies presents a major threat to user’s privacy and it certainly pose a major security concern as well which can be resolved using the domain of Cyber Security with following steps:

1. Always use cautious approach – On exchanging personal information, user should always be cautious especially if he/she is using a public computer because Cybercriminals can use Stolen Cookies to access user’s personal information. 

2. Turn off Cookie Storage – User should go to settings of any web browser which he/she is using for example Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari etc. and he/she should Turn off Cookie Storage which will reduce the amount of user’s personal information or data exchanged. 

3. Use of Browser Add-Ons – There are Browser Add-Ons which are available and used to disable any third-party software such as Cookie Tracker which can be used by Cybercriminals or Hackers to steal Cookies. 

4. Use of Firewall, Anti-Malware and Anti-Virus Software – There are other Security measures as well which a user can employ to keep his/her personal information or data safe while browsing the internet like use of up-to-date Firewall, Anti-Malware and Anti-Virus Software applications which can block or defend the attacks done by Cybercriminals or Hackers with the help of Stolen Cookies. 

Conclusion

So, in a nutshell Cookies often possessed major threat or risks to user’s or any organization’s privacy and security, hence the role and importance of the CyberSecurity domain is much more relevant now than ever because disabling or deactivating the Cookies is not an option or solution but the emphasis or focus should be on ensuring that Cookies are utilized safely. 

For more information, visit Our Website at www.precisetestingsolution.com or call our office @ 0120-368-3602.

Also, you can send us an email at info@precisetestingsolution.com 

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