Digital Fingerprinting

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Abstract:-

Digital fingerprinting is extremely intricate, going beyond the browser to analyse elements of your device’s software and hardware.

This allows various internet services to identify you and your device without cookies. 

Whilst fingerprints have developed as a progression from the now-archaic cookie, they are perhaps more menacing in that our means of control and regulation are severely restricted. 

Perhaps the most ironic thing about digital fingerprinting is that its effectiveness is enhanced by our own fight for internet privacy. 

Privacy plugins, adblockers, ‘do not track’ and incognito mode all add another variable into the pool of data that fingerprinters can access. 

You cannot easily protect yourself from fingerprints, but you take precautions to limit your browser’s uniqueness. Tor is the easiest way to protect yourself from standard fingerprinting, but it’s not a permanent solution for most people. 

NoScript running from Mozilla provides a more practical means to tackle fingerprinting. 

Whilst fingerprinting is certainly not wholly corrupted and does have many valid uses for internet security, we need to remain collectively vigilant and aware of how our data is exposed to nefarious operators. 




Introduction:-


Digital fingerprinting is a computational process used to identify and track internet users and devices online.

Digital fingerprinting has become a hot topic in recent years as our collective internet privacy begins to fall through the cracks of an increasingly complex online environment. 

From a technical perspective, digital fingerprinting is very impressive, a triumph of modern computer science, but in many ways, it also epitomises a force of technological good harnessed for more sinister motives. 




Some Important Answers:-



1.What is a Digital Fingerprinting?

 A digital fingerprint is a unique digital identifier. Our digital fingerprint contains a set of data that identifies our browser setup and device as unique.

Once our browser and/or device is analysed, the fingerprinting software saves the fingerprint data server-side, outside of the user’s control.

This allows internet users to be identified and tracked, even when they take evasive measures against cookies.

These identifiers mainly relate to our browser and device, but can be used to pry into our personal data and internet browsing habits.

Digital fingerprinting has made advanced user and device tracking without cookies a reality and has become extremely hard to control or regulate. 


2.How do digital fingerprinting works?

Digital fingerprints are saved server-side, so we cannot typically block them without taking considerable steps to do so, and many of these steps negatively impact our browsing experience. 

When we visit a website, a fingerprint tracking script (typically JavaScript) collects data from our browser and device. 

Once this data is rendered, it’s processed, hashed and sent to a server for server-side storage.



3.How to discover Digital fingerprint?

You can use the site Cover Your Tracks to evaluate your own browser fingerprint. Here are some of results:


4.How Digital Fingerprint is created?

A digital fingerprint is created with various information extracted from your browser and device. 


These data points are calculated to provide a digital fingerprint – a digital identifier that is unique to you.

a.IP address

b.Device MAC address

c.User-agent string

d.Clock information – used to cross-verify       your location alongside your IP address

e.Web browser plugins 

f.TCP stack variation

g.Installed fonts on your device

h.JavaScript objects

i.Internal application programming interfaces

j.Device information such as screen resolution, touch support, OS and languag

k.Flash data

l.List of mime-type

m.Timestamps

n.CSS information

o.Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) headers

It’s just a matter of probability – the probability of another user having the same digital fingerprint as you skyrockets once the probability of these variables is combined. 

Our browsers are more heavily personalised than ever and this provides fingerprints with a wealth of cross-examinable information. Ironically, even the use of an adblocker or ‘do not track’ services provides a fingerprinter with more data to calculate your identity. 

After computing your digital fingerprint, operators will assign your value a rapidly-retrievable hash stored on their server. 

Whenever your fingerprint is recognised online, tracking services can identify you and alter your browsing experience, e.g. by sending you personalised ads or restricting you from some services.


5.Use of digital fingerprinting

a.By Marketers and Advertisers

Digital fingerprints were developed largely as a more intensive, robust alternative to cookies. 

Cookies are easily blocked and this makes cross-device tracking difficult. 

People clear their cookies often and switch between different devices often, which both erode the ROI of cookie-based targeting and advertising. 

Ad blockers are also clamping down on ads to prevent tracking via cookies. 

Data shows that 27% of US users are using adblocking services in 2020 compared to 15% in 2014.

Moreover,GDPR and other regulatory action have been taken against the misuse of cookies, further propelling them into the limelight. Sites broadcasting to any European audiences must request consent from users before using any cookies except “strictly necessary cookies.”

With digital fingerprinting, once you use a new device, data from the accounts you’re using and the cookies you’re downloading combines with your new digital fingerprint and you can be personally identified.

But digital fingerprints offer an alternative that cannot be switched off as the fingerprints are not saved on your device. 


6.Advantages of digital fingerprinting in marketing and advertising.

Data fingerprinting helps target ads and services without cookies 

More reliable for cross-device tracking

Circuments typical security tools like adblockers

Not controlled by the end-user, tough to switch off


7.Dark side of digital fingerprinting

The dark side of digital fingerprinting is difficult to unravel because we:

a.Can’t confirm how digital fingerprinting data is being used and by whom 

b.Can’t easily assert that our data is being used illegally or amorally 

For example, many people would consider that digital fingerprinting for advertising and marketing purposes is benign or even encourage it, even though the use of adblockers is rising. 

Paradoxical to the rise in the use of ad blockers;

Marketing Tech News found that 78% of mobile users don’t mind ads when they’re properly relevant and targeted. 

Segment found that users were frustrated when their shopping experiences were too impersonal or untargeted. 

Google Found that 63% of users were more likely to purchase items from sites that are able to recommend them based on their interests. 58% feel more favourable to sites that remember their past behaviour.  

User desire for targeted ads has become a digital marketing mantra.



8.How to control ourselves from digital fingerprinting?

Digital fingerprinting has the ironic strength of being best-able to track some users that take measures to increase their privacy.

For example, ‘do not track’ settings, the use of adblockers and even incognito mode can arm digital fingerprinting services with more data. 

The installation of privacy-enhancing plugins is not effective against digital fingerprinting. 

Simply disabling Flash, JavaScript and WebGL are probably very effective at combating digital fingerprinting but introduces problems with site rendering and web usability. 

Even the stock Tor browser is frequently modified to allow WebGL, and that is all digital fingerprinters need to calculate your unique fingerprint from your hardware and software resources.


9.How to control Our Browser?

Disabling Flash and Java in combination with the NoScript plugin may decrease rendering issues whilst preventing some scripts from running. Again, this has the opposite action of making your browser more unique via its mere presence. 

Some plugins can request permission for page rendering or executing processes for transmitting data.

Disabling browser updates and using stock settings will prevent your browser from saving cookies once its updates. 





For more knowledge use this references:-

Digital fingerprinting

Multimedia Fingerprinting Forensics for Traitor Tracing

Digital fingerprinting and watermarking


















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