What are cookies and are they a good thing or a bad thing. Cookies, not the gooey chocolate chip type but a computer version got their name from a Unix program, Fortune Cookie, that creates a different message (fortune) each time the program runs. Messages passed to your computer’s internet browsers each time you visit websites stored in small files are what are known as cookies in the computer world. Information you’ve entered as well as other calculated information such as what pages you visited and how often is all stored in the cookie files. A good example of use of cookies, would be when shopping online and you’re not able to finish your transaction because you must leave home. You close out of your browser and shut down your computer.
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Not only user name and passwords can be stored by websites, but data such as credit card numbers, name, income, age and other information used together could give someone access to your entire livelihood. Even if one individual website only stores one piece of information, the combination of all the cookies stored on your computer could give a hacker the ability to connect the pieces and steal your identity. To open a new line of credit someone may only need to know your name, address, driver’s license number and social security number. If an individual went uses their first and last name as user name on most websites and saves them so they don’t have to enter them every time they re-visit each site, they order fast food from the same place every week and have their address saved for the delivery of their favorite pizza, they updated their driver’s license number on their car insurance website recently and verified their SSN on their personal banking website because they lost access and need to request their user name and password; a hacker now has all the information they need to steal that person’s identity stored all on that individual’s computer. That is why there are privacy laws that set out to guard this information. The bulk of the rules regulating the protection of personal privacy by federal agencies come from two laws, the Privacy Act of 1974 and the privacy provisions of …show more content…
Cookies can add positive attributes to online access, but only if the proper security and awareness is used in storing information in this way. Somethings to help to protect your PII when using cookies are as follows:
• Use a secure access to the internet, via WEP or WPA or VPN connections
• Never share your User Names and Passwords with others, use phases vs a single word or name as the base for your user name with varying additional characters added that differ for each website, vary your passwords and keep all information saved in a secure manner.
• Refrain from saving usernames and passwords for return use
• Only enter PII on a website if it is needed. Do not give information just because the website requests
Not only user name and passwords can be stored by websites, but data such as credit card numbers, name, income, age and other information used together could give someone access to your entire livelihood. Even if one individual website only stores one piece of information, the combination of all the cookies stored on your computer could give a hacker the ability to connect the pieces and steal your identity. To open a new line of credit someone may only need to know your name, address, driver’s license number and social security number. If an individual went uses their first and last name as user name on most websites and saves them so they don’t have to enter them every time they re-visit each site, they order fast food from the same place every week and have their address saved for the delivery of their favorite pizza, they updated their driver’s license number on their car insurance website recently and verified their SSN on their personal banking website because they lost access and need to request their user name and password; a hacker now has all the information they need to steal that person’s identity stored all on that individual’s computer. That is why there are privacy laws that set out to guard this information. The bulk of the rules regulating the protection of personal privacy by federal agencies come from two laws, the Privacy Act of 1974 and the privacy provisions of …show more content…
Cookies can add positive attributes to online access, but only if the proper security and awareness is used in storing information in this way. Somethings to help to protect your PII when using cookies are as follows:
• Use a secure access to the internet, via WEP or WPA or VPN connections
• Never share your User Names and Passwords with others, use phases vs a single word or name as the base for your user name with varying additional characters added that differ for each website, vary your passwords and keep all information saved in a secure manner.
• Refrain from saving usernames and passwords for return use
• Only enter PII on a website if it is needed. Do not give information just because the website requests