Question

1. What does Incognito/Private Mode do in various web browsers? Include information concerning the more popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, etc.
2. Identify some things that Incognito/Private Mode does not do in various web browsers? Include information on misconceptions having to do with protection from viruses or other malware, what an internet service provider (ISP ) can see or not see, visibility about a physical location, bookmarks, etc.
3. From a social and ethical perspective, why do people use private/incognito mode?
4. How is web tracking accomplished? Is there a connection with privacy settings? Do browsers provide a way to avoid serving advertisements?
5. What is the original purpose of cookies? Are cookies misused in any way? In there a connection between cookies and Incognito/Private Mode?
6. What is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)? Will use of a VPN block cookies? Will use of a VPN help protect privacy?

Answer 1

• Incognito is a private browsing mode in google chrome and private mode/private browsing in Firefox and other web browses. Whenever a web browser communicates with web servers/ clients they used to establish session information in the form of cookies which helps the users to access the same sites easily without filling more details. In the case of financial transactions, this session information may result in illegal transactions, etc, not only financial transaction can be repeated without the consent of the intended user. In Private browsing mode, the browser creates a temporary session that is isolated from the browser's main session and user data. Browsing history is not saved, and local data associated with the session, such as cookies, are cleared when the session is closed. These modes are designed primarily to prevent data and history associated with a particular browsing session from persisting on the device or being discovered by another user of the same device.

• Incognito/Private Mode does not provide security from the hackers or third-party attacks
• It does not provide internet security.
• It does not provide Virus protection.
• While in private mode or Incognito mode, none of your browsing history is permanently stored on your computer. However, this does not mean you are anonymous on the Internet. Each page that you visit still recognizes your IP address. If someone had the ability to view your IP address history for legal purposes, an ISP, website, and even a search engine server log could be used to track you.

• Normally a search engine keeps tracking all the sessions that the user visit and whenever the user logs into the search engine again it displays the related information of previously visited sites which might be harmful if the system is in public domain. So, private browsing helps in such kind of scenario.

• When you log in to a website, like Facebook, your browser sends it a message (again in the form of an HTTP request) with your username and password. If this login request is successful, the response will typically instruct your browser to set a cookie containing a long, random session ID. Facebook saves the fact that it assigned you this session ID to its database, and so when your browser appends it to future requests to Facebook, it immediately knows and trusts who you are without having to explicitly ask you for your password again. Without a mechanism like a cookie, you would have to enter your username and password for every single request that you sent to Facebook. It would be like having to get a new security card every time you wanted to go into your office. With cookies, you only have to register for the security card once, and then whenever you swipe it, the door, elevator or courtesy robot knows who you are and where you’re allowed to go. If you delete your Facebook cookies then its as though you incinerated your ID card. Facebook doesn’t know who you are anymore, and so you have to login again to re-prove your identity and get a new session ID.
• Privacy settings can be manipulated used later on for illegal logins and data transactions.

• A cookie is a small text file created by your browser and stored on your device. When you visit a website, your browser sends it a message known as an HTTP request. The website responds to your browser’s message with both the content you asked for and any cookies it would like your browser to save. Your browser saves the cookies and notes the domain of the website that they belong to. It then appends a website’s cookie data to every future request that it makes to that website’s domain. Modern websites use cookies for two main purposes - keeping you logged in and tracking your behavior.
• Yes, cookies can be misused.
• Private browsing does not allow cookies to store session details.

• A virtual private network (VPN) is a technology for using the Internet or another intermediate network to connect computers to isolated remote computer networks that would otherwise be inaccessible. A VPN provides varying levels of security so that traffic sent through the VPN connection stays isolated from other computers on the intermediate network, either through the use of a dedicated connection from one “end” of the VPN to the other or through encryption. VPNs can connect individual users to a remote network or connect multiple networks together.