Being Safe Online – Private Browsing
The dangers of the Internet are well publicised and there are always stories in the news and technology blogs about the latest scam or virus infiltrating computers everywhere. There are multiple software solutions available to fight back against those who choose to misuse the power of the web, one of the most recent being a modification to browsers, fighting identity theft at the source.
Private browsing is the name given to one of the latest additions many popular browsers have already started to incorporate. The premise of private browsing is to clear the browser of any personal information or information that has been stored in the browsers cache.
Most browsers store information such as visited pages, passwords, cookies and web form entries. These are mostly stored to aid the user experience, either offering a convenience or to improve the speed at which the browser works and navigates the web. Auto completion for example is a great time saver, nobody likes entering the same log in details over and over again, but unfortunately this does mean that if not cleared properly these details may be available to subsequent users of that browser. Private browsing has been developed to remove such information and provide a more secure experience.
Recent studies by leading web security experts have found however, that private browsing may not be as private as many users believe it to be. With many people using third party add-ons with their browsers these days these add-ons can actually compromise the effectiveness of the private browsing functionality. There were also conflicts found when those with private browsing enabled in their browser visited secure sites, in some cases personal data was found to literally ‘leak out’ of the browser.
If you regularly use public computers there are precautions you can take in addition to enabling private browsing to make you experience as safe as possible. Clear your browsing history, any temporary internet files as well as closing the browser when you have finished will help remove any lurking pieces of personal information.
Relying solely on software to keep your personal information secure whilst browsing the web is not the best solution. It is better than taking no precautions, but to keep your security at its optimum when online enable private browsing but also take the time to check anything that private browsing may have missed.
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