Website Cookies
Rebuni Tech Team
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are text files with small pieces of data — like a username and password — that are used to identify your computer as you use a computer network. Specific cookies known as HTTP cookies are used to identify specific users and improve your web browsing experience.
Data stored in a cookie is created by the server upon your connection. This data is labeled with an ID unique to you and your computer. When the cookie is exchanged between your computer and the network server, the server reads the ID and knows what information to specifically serve to you.
Different types of Cookies
- Magic Cookies
- HTTP Cookies
Cookies generally function the same but have been applied to different use cases:
"Magic cookies" are an old computing term that refers to packets of information that are sent and received without changes. Commonly, this would be used for a login to computer database systems, such as a business internal network. This concept predates the modern “cookie” we use today.
HTTP cookies are a repurposed version of the “magic cookie” built for internet browsing. Web browser programmer Lou Montulli used the “magic cookie” as inspiration in 1994. He recreated this concept for browsers when he helped an online shopping store fix their overloaded servers.
What Are Cookies Used For?
Websites use HTTP cookies to streamline your web experiences. Without cookies, you’d have to login again after you leave a site or rebuild your shopping cart if you accidentally close the page. Making cookies an important a part of the internet experience.
Based on this, you’ll want to understand why they’re worth keeping — and when they’re not.
Here’s how cookie are intended to be used:
- Session management. For example, cookies let websites recognize users and recall their individual login information and preferences, such as sports news versus politics.
- Personalization. Customized advertising is the main way cookies are used to personalize your sessions. You may view certain items or parts of a site, and cookies use this data to help build targeted ads that you might enjoy.
- Tracking. Shopping sites use cookies to track items users previously viewed, allowing the sites to suggest other goods they might like and keep items in shopping carts while they continue shopping.
While this is mostly for your benefit, web developers get a lot out of this set-up as well.
Cookies are stored on your device locally to free up storage space on a website’s servers. In turn, websites can personalize while saving money on server maintenance and storage costs.
Why Cookies Can Be Dangerous
Since the data in cookies doesn't change, cookies themselves aren't harmful.
They can't infect computers with viruses or other malware. However, some cyberattacks can hijack cookies and enable access to your browsing sessions.
The danger lies in their ability to track individuals' browsing histories. To explain, let’s discuss what cookies to watch out for.
First-Party vs. Third-Party Cookies
Some cookies may pack more of a threat than others depending on where they come from.
First-party cookies are directly created by the website you are using. These are generally safer, as long as you are browsing reputable websites or ones that have not been compromised.
Third-party cookies are more troubling. They are generated by websites that are different from the web pages users are currently surfing, usually because they're linked to ads on that page.
Visiting a site with 10 ads may generate 10 cookies, even if users never click on those ads.
Third-party cookies let advertisers or analytics companies track an individual's browsing history across the web on any sites that contain their ads.
Consequently, the advertiser could determine that a user first searched for running apparel at a specific outdoor store before checking a particular sporting goods site and then a certain online sportswear boutique.
Allowing or Removing Cookies
Cookies can be an optional part of your internet experience. If you so choose, you can limit what cookies end up on your computer or mobile device.
If you allow cookies, it will streamline your surfing. For some users, no cookies security risk is more important than a convenient internet experience.
source: https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/cookies
Thank you!