Imagine that you are entering a shopping mall. A stranger starts following you and tells you in detail about the shops you visit. When you're reading a flyer, the device detects if you're paying too much attention, and when you're in the store, it uses a timer to accurately calculate the time you walk through each shelf, and it looks confusing and annoying, yes a bar?
But that's exactly what happens every time you visit a website, check email from an online store or service, or use a mobile shopping app. Here, the person holding the timer represents the analytics system that comes standard with every website, app, and email campaign.
Why do companies need to collect all this data?
There are several reasons for this, most notably:
- To better understand your preferences and recommend products and services that may be of interest to you. This way, after searching for the right type of bike for your child, you will be offered a bike ad.
- To add more impactful text and images to their websites and emails, companies are experimenting with different titles, titles, and logo options, choosing the ones that focus more on their customers.
- Find out which parts of your mobile app or website are the most popular and how to interact with them.
- Test out new products, services, and features.
- Selling data about user behavior and preferences to other companies.
How does web beacon and pixel based tracking work?
Tracking activities are based on web beacons, also known as Tracker Pixels or Spy Pixels.
The most common tracking technique is to insert small images (pictures so small that they are almost invisible) - 1 x 1 or 0 x 0 pixels - in emails, apps or websites. When information is displayed on your screen, an email or browser requests an image to be downloaded from a server by sending information about you. The server records this information: for example: the time, device, operating system used, browser type, and the site from which the pixel is being downloaded. This is how the bot operator knows that you have opened an email or webpage.
The second method of web tracking is to embed small pieces of JavaScript code into web pages that collect more detailed information, often rather than pixels.
In either case, the tracker does not appear in the email or on the website. You may not even notice it, but the bots on every page or app screen can track you, track your navigation path and the time you spend on each step of that path.
Signs of Cybercriminals and Web Tracking:
Web beacons are used not only by marketing agencies and technology companies, but also by cyber criminals.
Web beacons are an easy way to early detect targeted email attacks such as phishing and corporate email hacking. They help scammers know when victims are checking their email, so they can choose the best time to launch an attack.
User information, including behavioral and interest data, can be lost as a result of a cyber attack. Even large companies like Mailchimp, Klaviyo or ActiveCampaign sometimes face such breaches.
The stolen information can be used for various scams, for example: the hacker who attacked Klaviyo stole a list of users interested in investing in cryptocurrency. These audiences can then be targeted and deceived using specialized phishing tactics based on their interest in cryptocurrency.
How do you protect yourself from being tracked?
We can't control the leaks and hacks that happen in our companies, but we can make sure that the servers of the tech giants collect as little data as possible about us.
Kaspersky experts here share some suggestions that can help us solve this problem, including:
- Prevent images from automatically downloading in email: When setting up email on your phone, computer, or in a web client service, make sure that the setting that prevents images from being displayed automatically is enabled. the pictures.
- Block trackers: Most web beacons can be blocked from loading. Private browsing settings can be found in Kaspersky security products. Firefox also allows you to turn on and customize Advanced Tracking Protection. There are also many dedicated privacy extensions in the Chrome and Safari browsers.
- Secure Your Internet Connection: Tracking protection works well within the confines of your operating system or home router. So if you block web beacons in your router, they will not only work in your emails and web pages, but also in your app or even on your TV. Maher. To do this, Kaspersky experts recommend enabling secure DNS in the operating system or router settings and specifying a DNS server that blocks trackers.
- A VPN connection can sometimes provide tracking protection: If this is the easiest option for you, make sure your VPN provider offers tracking blocking services.