You’d like to access the company website or a site for one of your vendors from work. When you click on your favorite browser, it opens to your homepage: msn.com, yahoo.com, aol.com, espn.com… You get the point. You then select the bookmark for the desired website and go. BIG problem! Most websites these days have tracking cookies, microdots and other advertising and data-collection bots that sit on them. These little spies are now following you across your browser session. Be careful with your information. Web portal sites like I listed are filled with ads, and the site’s overhead is paid for with information they get from you.
1. Consider changing your homepage to something like https://startpage.com/. They don’t spy.
2. Always open a new browser tab when navigating to a new website. Close the last one to keep things tidy after the new one loads.
3. Consider using add-ons in your browser to cut down on ads and spies. Not sure how? Ask us.
I'm Robert Patterson with Progressive Computing and I'll be back soon with another IT Security Tip.
