Exposing User Data: Privacy Risks From Browsing Patterns

The vast majority of people browsing the web are vulnerable to attacks that expose detailed information about their viewing habits, including news articles they've read and the Zip Codes they've entered into online forms. According to results collected from more than 271,000 visits to a site called What the internet knows about you, 76 percent of users exposed their browser histories, with the proportion of those using Apple's Safari and Google Chrome browsers even higher. Surprisingly, the percentage was also higher among browsers that turned off JavaScript.

While the underlying browser history disclosure vulnerability was disclosed a decade ago, researchers on Thursday disclosed a variety of techniques that make attacks much more efficient. Among other things, the researchers described an algorithm that can scan as many as 30,000 links per second. That makes it possible for webmasters to stealthily gobble up huge amounts of information within seconds of someone visiting their site.

The link for this article located at The Register UK is no longer available.