44 13 - 26 November 2019
E
venif youtakecaretousestrong
login credentials and change them
at the first sign of a security
breach or after a set period of time, and
even if you’re very careful about what
you share online and what permissions
you grant, your personal information
could still be at risk – without you even
knowing. That’s because your browser
and other software could be revealing
identifiable data about you. There are
lots of tools you can use to check and
stop this, and it’s worth trying the
following ones to detect and plug the
leaks in your browser privacy.Test your web browser
for privacy leaks
Irrespective of which browser you use- be it Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Vivaldi or
something else – BrowserLeaks
(browserleaks.com) can show you what
personal data is being shared online
without your knowledge or permission.
The tool offers a number of tests
covering IP Address, JavaScript, Flash
Player, WebGL, Content Filters and
Geolocation API. Just select a test and
BrowserLeaks will immediately show
you exactly what information is being
leaked through your browser. In the
case of the IP Address test, for example,
it will show your local and public IP
addresses, ISP, country, city, connection
type, latitude/longitude, DNS servers
and browser type. It will also plot your
current location on a map to reveal if
you’re unwittingly leaking details of
where you are.Ensure your browser
is blocking trackers
Most web browsers now
offer a ‘do not track’
feature that, when
enabled, will tell sites
that you want to opt out
of behavioural targeting
(when adverts are
tailored to your interests)
and not be tracked. You
can check to see
whether this is switched
on in your browser by
looking in the Settings.
In Chrome, click the
three-dot button in the
top-right corner of the
browser and open
Settings, then scroll
down, click Advanced and, under
Privacy, make sure ‘Send a ‘Do Not
Track’ request with your browsing
traffic’ is enabled. In Firefox, click the
three-line menu button and open
Content Blocking. Mozilla’s browser
gives you two choices: you can send a
Do Not Track signal ‘Always’ or ‘Only
when Firefox is set to block known
trackers’ (the default setting).
While ‘Do Not Track’ sounds like a
great way to safeguard your privacy,
websites are under no obligation to
respect your request, and most don’t.
Panopticlick (panopticlick.eff.org), from
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lets
you check to see how well your browser
and add-ons protect you against online
tracking methods. You can run a sample
test, or test your browser using a real
tracking company. Just click the Test MeYourpersonaldatais pricelessto
you, but to hackers and
scammers, it’s actually worth
surprisingly little. Totally Money
has a personal data quiz at www
.totallymoney.com/personal-
data/ which lets you put a price
on various types of basic
personal information, such as
your email address and
telephone number, and then
reveals the actual total worth,
which really isn’t much at all.
Top10VPN’s Dark Web Market
Price Index – 2019 (UK Edition) (bit.ly/darkweb488) looks at the price of some
of the data you can find on the dark web, including hacked accounts for
services such as Netflix and Fortnite. According to the site’s research, an
entire online identity is valued at just £770, while a Netflix account alone is
worth £8.19, an Amazon account £14.53 and an Uber account £7.61. Facebook
is valued at £6.96 and Twitter at £1.54.
Personal bank details were priced at £347.68, credit card details at £24.91,
PayPal at £14.06, driving licence info at £13.28, passports at £9.93 and Gmail
account logins at £4.48.
To arrive at its figures, Top10VPN reviewed tens of thousands of listings
across five of the main dark web markets – Dream, Wallstreet, Empire,
Berlusconi and Tochka Free. It focused on listings featuring stolen ID, personal
data and hacked accounts, and excluded any massive data dumps.HOW MUCH IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA WORTH?
IS YOUR BROWSER LEAKING PERSONAL INFO?
BrowserLeaks reveals
what personal data
you’re leaking through
your browserPanopticlick tells you whether your
browser is really blocking web trackers