TrackOFF, a consumer privacy company that builds best-in-class tools to secure users’ identities and personal data, has launched in South Africa and now offers a localised service to citizens.
The local service, available immediately, combats tracking technology, such as cookies, digital fingerprinting, and WiFi sniffing , used by online retailers, search engines, and many others to monitor everything we do online.
Forms of online tracking include:
* Cookie-based tracking: Cookies are files created by web servers that are stored on users’ computers while they browse various websites. However, advancements in third-party cookie technology permit data brokers and analytics companies to specifically identify users, track their behaviour across multiple domains, and store volumes of data about an individual’s digital habits. This technology often manifests itself when users see advertisements follow them across multiple websites.
* WiFi sniffing: In addition to revealing an approximate location, an IP address can be used to gather volumes of data about a person’s online history. Separately, using packet capture technology, hackers and identity thieves may intercept sensitive data moving over public WiFi networks.
* Digital fingerprints: Less known, but more powerful than cookie-based tracking is a newer and increasingly prevalent data collection technique called “digital fingerprinting,” which generally refers to methods used to capture information associated with a user’s computer and web browser. Much like a human fingerprint, these data points, when combined, are unique to an individual’s computer.
TrackOFF CEO Chandler Givens comments: “It is no coincidence that you may see the same item that you searched for on one website, pop up over several other websites. Although many of us are not worried about the fact that companies today use information they gather about us to put together a picture of our browsing habits, there are several risks that we’re often not aware of, but that we need to consider.
“Our online identities are becoming extremely valuable not only to data mining companies that can sell this data to the highest bidder, but also to cyber criminals who can use this information for their own financial gain. 2017 will certainly bring more privacy and security challenges that consumers need to be aware of and know how to protect themselves from.”
