Cookies and security - Internet Explorer
Let's look a bit at cookies and what do they mean for computer security.
Most Internet sites today are using cookies. Whenever an user is visiting the website, a tiny fragment of text is sent from the website to the computer browser. The browser is instructed to save these files on the local hard disk. What happens is that the cookie contains an unique piece of code that stores information used by the website in order to identify that you have visited the site in the past (and perhaps identify you as a local user and activate certain website functions based on tbis recognition. Such functionality can be really useful at times, for example in order to give the user the possibility to enter a site that requires login without having to enter the username and password each time the site is revisited.
Many cookies are safe, as they are reused only by the site that saved them, however there are certain sites that contain ads showing content residing on different servers; these ads can install their own cookies on your computer and they are commonly known as third party cookies. Third party cookies are useful for the ad-serving system, as they can inform them about the web pages you visit and this information can then be relayed to the advertising customer that pays for the ad.
Cookies are not about security, but they are all about privacy. While cookies cannot really put you at risk by disclosing personal info like you credit card number, they can affect your privacy as certain parties can identify your actions and web pages visited without your consent. You can take action and prevent this by fully disable cookies; however be aware that this can render a lot of sites unusable since as earlier said in this article, most sites today use cookies. The most convenient option in this case would be, to choose to block only third party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy (from Custom Level in Internet Explorer security options for example). Alternatively, you can choose to disable cookies but activate them individually for each site. In Internet Explorer, this is done by going to Web Sites in the Privacy tab in Internet Options, and through clicking on Edit you can choose to add web sites to the list and to set their individual cookie behaviour.
Most Internet sites today are using cookies. Whenever an user is visiting the website, a tiny fragment of text is sent from the website to the computer browser. The browser is instructed to save these files on the local hard disk. What happens is that the cookie contains an unique piece of code that stores information used by the website in order to identify that you have visited the site in the past (and perhaps identify you as a local user and activate certain website functions based on tbis recognition. Such functionality can be really useful at times, for example in order to give the user the possibility to enter a site that requires login without having to enter the username and password each time the site is revisited.
Many cookies are safe, as they are reused only by the site that saved them, however there are certain sites that contain ads showing content residing on different servers; these ads can install their own cookies on your computer and they are commonly known as third party cookies. Third party cookies are useful for the ad-serving system, as they can inform them about the web pages you visit and this information can then be relayed to the advertising customer that pays for the ad.
Cookies are not about security, but they are all about privacy. While cookies cannot really put you at risk by disclosing personal info like you credit card number, they can affect your privacy as certain parties can identify your actions and web pages visited without your consent. You can take action and prevent this by fully disable cookies; however be aware that this can render a lot of sites unusable since as earlier said in this article, most sites today use cookies. The most convenient option in this case would be, to choose to block only third party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy (from Custom Level in Internet Explorer security options for example). Alternatively, you can choose to disable cookies but activate them individually for each site. In Internet Explorer, this is done by going to Web Sites in the Privacy tab in Internet Options, and through clicking on Edit you can choose to add web sites to the list and to set their individual cookie behaviour.
This information is provided without any warranties of any kind. Use it at your own risk. Terms and conditions