Data Backup Digest

Users of the popular Mozilla Firefox web browser have even more reasons to rejoice with the implementation of Total Cookie Protection across all platforms. With the option switched on by default with all new installations, the move effectively makes Mozilla Firefox one of the most secure and private web browsers available today. But what exactly does this mean?

Protecting Your Online Data

Whether you realize it or not, there’s a good chance that your online data is already been traded and sold between advertisers. After all, it’s this kind of information that allows advertisers to deliver relevant ads based on your past shopping history or online browsing habits.

Most of this data is captured through the use of HTTP cookies – small records that contain information for server-side use. Some cookies are completely innocent and harmless. They’re often used to store login information, track repeat visits, and more. In cases like this, cookies are a highly effective method of saving time during your day-to-day browsing.

However, cookies also have nefarious uses, too. Not only can hackers use these cookies to impersonate their victim and easily login to their accounts, but shady websites might use cookies without the user’s consent. These cookies could reveal the victim’s browsing habits across the entire internet.

Different Types of Cookies

There are many different kinds of cookies in use today, including:

• Session cookies: These records are created for a specific session and deleted immediately thereafter. As such, these cookies, which are considered temporary cookies, are mostly harmless.
• Persistent cookies: Unlike session cookies, persistent cookies remain on your computer after the current session has ended. They are programmed to expire, either on a certain date or after a specific length of time, and they are most often used by advertisers or to store website-specific login information.
• Secure cookies: These are cookies that can only be transmitted across an encrypted connection, such as HTTPS. Because they use an additional layer of security, they are far less likely to be intercepted or stolen by malicious hackers.
• HTTP-only cookies: Records that are meant for use in client-side APIs, like JavaScript, use HTTP-only cookies. As a result, they provide a highly secure means of storing data.
• Same-site cookies: Introduced in 2016 via the Google Chrome browser, same-site cookies are only usable within the domain that created it in the first place. Same-site cookies are now supported on all major web browsers.
• Third-party cookies: Another cookie that’s commonly used by advertisers, a third-party cookie is one that has a different domain than one that appears in the web browser’s address bar.
• Supercookies: Because of their security vulnerabilities, supercookies are currently blocked by most major web browsers.
• Zombie cookies: These cookies represent records that are stored outside of the user’s normal cookie storage folder. Such cookies are often stored in multiple locations.

Total Cookie Protection on Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla’s Total Cookie Protection works by creating a new cookie jar, or folder, for every website a user visits. This makes it easy for records likes same-site cookies to work in tandem while making it even more difficult for persistent or third-party cookies to track your browsing history.