What are cookies in a browser?

In This Post, we will cover:

What are cookies in a browser?
Types of cookies used
What are cookies used for?
Types of HTTP cookie
Why cookie might be dangerous?

Table of Contents

A cookie is a short text sent to your browser by the website you visit. This will help the site to remember the information about your visit, which will make the return visit easier and make the site more useful to you.

For example, how many visitors per page do we get when you sign up for our services, remember the language you prefer, and make the ads you see more relevant to you? To protect your data and remember your advertising settings.

This page describes the types of cookies Google uses. It also explains how Google and our partners use cookies in advertising. See the Privacy Policy to learn how we protect your privacy when using cookies and other information.

Types of cookies used by Google

Some or all of the cookies described below may be stored in your browser. To manage how cookies are used, you may at any time refuse the use of specific cookies through your Google personalization settings by visiting g.co/privacy tools. You can also manage cookies in your browser (browsers on mobile devices may not provide this visibility). For example, if you use Google Chrome as your browser, you can go to chrome: //settings/cookies.

Functionality

Cookies used for functionality allow users to interact with the service or site in order to access the basic features for that service. Priorities for the service include user language selection, product customization to help manage and improve the service, and storage of user-session information such as shopping. Cart Contents.

Some cookies are used to manage user preferences. For example, many people who use Google services have a cookie called ‘NID’ in their browser. This cookie contains a unique ID that you can use to remember your preferences and your preferred language, how many search results you want to see on the results page (for example, 10 or 20), and whether you want Google’s SafeSearch filter. On. Each NID cookie expires 6 months after it was last used by the user. The cookie ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ serves a similar purpose to YouTube and is also used to identify and resolve issues with the Service.

YouTube uses the ‘PREF’ cookie to store information such as user-preferred page configuration and playback preferences such as autoplay, shuffle content, and player size. For YouTube music, these preferences include volume, repeat mode, and autoplay. This cookie expires 8 months after the user last used it.

Some cookies are used to maintain and enhance the user experience during a particular browsing session. For example, ‘YSC’ is used by YouTube to remember user input and associate user actions. This cookie lasts as long as the user keeps their browser open. The cookie ‘pm_sess’ also helps the user to manage the browser session and lasts for 30 minutes.

Some cookies improve the performance of Google services. For example, ‘CGIC’ improves the delivery of search results by auto-completing search queries based on the user’s initial input. This cookie lasts for 6 months.

Security

Cookies used for security authenticate users, prevent fraud and protect them when customers interact with the service.

Some cookies are used to authenticate users, which helps ensure that only the original owner of the account can access that account. For example, cookies called ‘SID’ and ‘HSID’ contain the user’s Google Account ID and the digital signature and encrypted record of the most recent sign-in time. This combination of cookies allows us to prevent a variety of attacks, such as attempts to steal the content of forms submitted to Google services.

Some cookies are used to prevent spam, fraud, and abuse. For example, ‘pm_sess’ and ‘YSC’ cookies ensure that requests during a browsing session are made by the user rather than by other sites. Both cookies prevent malicious sites from being known to the user and acting as that user.

Analytics

Cookies used for analytics help collect services that allow services to understand how users interact with a particular service. These insights allow services to enhance content and create enhanced features that enhance the user experience.

Some cookie sites help their visitors understand how to engage with their properties. For example, Google Analytics is a Google product that helps site and app owners to understand how individuals engage with the service, collect information, and use the site without personally identifying Google’s personal visitors. We use a set of cookies to report statistics. ‘_ga’ is the main cookie used by Google Analytics. ‘_ga’ launches service to separate one user from another and lasts for 2 years. It can be used by any site that implements Google Analytics, including Google services.

Google services also use other analytics cookies, such as ‘NID’ in Google search and ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’ on YouTube.

Advertising

Google uses cookies for advertising, including the provisioning and rendering of ads, personalizing ads (based on your ad settings in g.co/settings), limiting the number of times an ad may show the user, including muting who you choose to stop. Viewing and measuring the impact of advertising.

‘NID’ is used for these purposes to serve Google ads on Google services to signed-out users
‘IDE’ and ‘ANID’ are used for these purposes to serve Google ads on non-Google sites
Other Google services, such as YouTube, may also use cookies, such as ‘VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE’, to display more relevant ads.

If you enable personalized advertising, ‘ANID’ is used to remember this setting and lasts for 13 months in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (UK) and 24 months elsewhere. If you disable personalized ads, ‘ANID’ will be used to store that setting until 2030. The ‘NID’ expires 6 months after the user’s last use. ‘IDE’ lasts for 13 months in EEA, Switzerland, and the UK and 24 months everywhere. Importance of illustration in UX

What are cookies used for?

Websites use HTTP cookies to streamline your web experience. If you accidentally close the page without cookies, you will need to log in again after exiting the site or rebuilding your shopping cart. Making cookies is an important part of the Internet experience.

Based on this, you need to understand why you should keep them - and when they are not.

Here’s how to use a cookie?

Session management: For example, cookies allow websites to identify users and remember their personal login information and preferences, for example, sports news and politics.

Personalization: The main way you use cookies to personalize your sessions is through customized ads. Cookies use this data to help you view specific items or parts of the site and to create targeted ads that you enjoy.

To lay an eye: Shopping sites use cookies to track items previously viewed by users, allowing sites to indicate other items they like and to place the item in the shopping cart while shopping.

While this may be of great benefit to you, web developers will also benefit greatly from this setup.

Cookies are stored locally on your device to free up storage space on website servers. In turn, websites can be personalized, saving money on server maintenance and storage costs.

With some variations, cookies in the cyber world come in two types: session and persistent.

Session cookies are used only when navigating the Website. They are stored in random access memory and are never written to the hard drive.

At the end of the session, the session cookies are automatically deleted. They also help with the “back” button or third-party anonymizer plugins. These plugins are designed to help specific browsers work and maintain user privacy.

Persistent cookies are indefinite on the computer, but most have an expiration date and are automatically deleted upon reaching that date.

Persistent cookies are used for two basic purposes:

Verification: These cookies track the user’s logged-in name. They also sort login information, so users do not have to remember site passwords.

To lay an eye: These cookies track multiple visits to the same site over time. Some online merchants, for example, use cookies to track the visits of specific customers, including pages visited and products. The information they receive allows them to point out other topics of interest to visitors. Gradually, a profile is created based on the user’s browsing history on that site. Learn about tips to protect Your website.

Since the data in the cookies does not change, the cookies themselves are not malicious.

They do not infect computers with viruses or other malware. However, some cyber attacks can hijack cookies and enable access to your browsing sessions.

There is a risk in their ability to track individuals’ browsing history. To illustrate, let’s discuss what cookies to look for. Also, learn about wireframes.

First-party versus third-party cookies

Some cookies may pack more risk than others depending on where they come from.

First-party cookies are created directly through the website you use. These are usually safe as long as you browse popular websites or websites that do not compromise.

Third-party cookies are even more annoying. They are created by websites that are different from the web pages the user is currently surfing, and are usually associated with the ads on that page.

Visiting a site with 10 ads can generate 10 cookies, even if the user never clicks on those ads.

Third-party cookies allow advertisers or analytics companies to track a person’s browsing history on the Web on any site that contains their ads.

As a result, the advertiser can determine if a user has searched for running clothing in a particular outdoor store before checking out a specific sporting goods site.

Zombie cookies belong to a third party and are permanently installed on their computers even if users choose not to install cookies. They reappear even after they have been removed. When zombie cookies first appeared, they were created from data stored in the Adobe Flash storage bin. They are sometimes called “flash cookies” and are very difficult to remove.

Like other third-party cookies, web analytics companies may use zombie cookies to track the browsing history of specific individuals. Websites can also use zombies to limit specific users.

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