{"id":4514,"date":"2020-01-28T08:38:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T08:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.positivenewstrends.com\/?p=4514"},"modified":"2020-01-28T09:02:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T09:02:22","slug":"do-not-track-enabled-in-iphone-helped-third-parties-track-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.positivenewstrends.com\/news\/do-not-track-enabled-in-iphone-helped-third-parties-track-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Not Track Enabled in iPhone Helped Third-Parties Track You"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo Not Track<\/strong>\u201d enabled in your Apple iPhone could have helped third-parties track your web-browsing activities & collect your sensitive information! Yes, the Information Security Team at Google has reported of several security issues in Safari\u2019s Tracking System<\/strong> that caused Apple\u2019s Privacy Blunder.<\/p>\n

\"Do<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s Privacy Blunder \u2013 Vulnerabilities in Safari\u2019s ITP<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The tech giant, Apple is eminent globally for being the \u201cprivacy-above all<\/strong>\u201d brand & focusing on protecting user\u2019s data privacy by all means. In order to ensure the security of its user\u2019s data, Apple rolled a feature \u2013 \u201cIntelligent Tracking Prevention<\/strong>\u201d Tool in year 2017.<\/p>\n

This tool was specifically designed to restrict third-party cookies & protect Safari browser users from being tracked by the advertisers.<\/p>\n

However, according to a technical paper published on https:\/\/arxiv.org\/,<\/strong> a group of security engineers at Google have found vulnerabilities in safari\u2019s Intelligent Tracking Prevention<\/strong> (ITP) recently. The vulnerabilities in Safari Browser put web security & data privacy of the users at risk.<\/p>\n

\"Do<\/p>\n

It is suspected that the bunch of flaws in ITP would have allowed potential cyber-crooks to sneak a peek into user\u2019s search & browsing history<\/strong>. This Apple\u2019s privacy blunder also leaked web-browsing habits & online activities<\/strong> of the users.<\/p>\n

Insight into the Recent Security Issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1). According to the reports, the security issues in Safari first surfaced to lime-light in 2017, which were stemmed with Safari\u2019s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) feature.<\/p>\n

This feature protected Apple users against cookies-tracking third-parties by logging their use. ITP would block the websites from utilizing the cookies.<\/p>\n

The researchers said that ITP marked such websites as wide-spread domains & were added to the ITP List when it observed them sending data that could be used by the advertisers to recognize the user.<\/p>\n

However, these logs made a way for the potential cyber-crooks to get details of a person\u2019s web-browsing history<\/strong>, the Google research paper revealed.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

2). The second instance of online security issue with Apple iPhones was found in 2019, the sources state. The \u201cDo Not Track\u201d feature enabled the websites to track the people better<\/strong>. This feature created a digital fingerprint of the browser settings of the users.<\/p>\n

While the main motive of \u201cDo not Track\u201d utility was to prevent the users from being tracked by the websites, the effort failed. As a result, Apple discontinued \u201cDo not Track\u201d standard during Safari 12.1 release in 2019.<\/p>\n

Some of the flaws were addressed & fixed by Apple with the release of security patches in Safari 13.04 & iOS 13.3 in December 2019.<\/p>\n

John Wilander, Apple\u2019s WebKit Engineer at ITP thanked Google for its assistance in an official statement. He extended his gratefulness to Google for exploring the ability of web-content detection when trying to prevent its tracking & other possible worst situations that could have happen.<\/p>\n

While Apple\u2019s Privacy Blunder of ITP flaws have been addressed<\/strong>, Google security researchers say the mitigation did not completely resolve web security & data privacy issues. The research paper rolled out on arxiv.org <\/strong>by Google asserts the fixes have limits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n