Research* by cybersecurity company NordVPN shows that on average, websites have 48 trackers while social media websites have even more — 160 trackers on average.
Health websites host 46 trackers each, while digital media sites come next with an average of 28 trackers. Porn and government websites are found to have the lowest degree of tracking, with four and one trackers respectively per website.
Most of the trackers were owned by third parties, NordVPN said. Around 30% of third-party trackers belong to Google, 11% to Facebook, and 7% to Adobe. The collected data is used for marketing purposes.
“The number of website trackers depends mostly on data-protection laws in a country. That is why in Central and Northern Europe, where GDPR rules are applied, websites have fewer trackers,” said Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN.
Trackers are usually inserted into the code of websites and are difficult to detect for a regular user. The kinds of information trackers collect can include IP address and location, browsing history, a user’s clicks on a website, what items they looked at and for how long as well as the data about the browser and device they’re using.
Trackers can help website admins improve users’ experience after analysing how visitors interact with their website. On the other hand, the information helps to create a user profile that can be sold to third parties (such as Google, Facebook, and Adobe), which can then use the profile to serve targeted ads that follow users from website to website.
The worst case scenario is if cybercriminals get their hands on this data. They could compile a detailed portfolio about someone and use it against them in a phishing attack by crafting a highly personalised and believable message.
According to a survey by NordVPN, 47% of users worry about being tracked by social media giants (e.g. Facebook). Nearly four in 10 (39%) are concerned that their data is collected by information and advertising aggregators (like Google), and 38% don’t want marketing agencies to get hold of their data.
Markuson listed some ways users can become less trackable online:
- Use a virtual private network (VPN). By using a VPN, you will hide your real IP address and location from all third parties, including your ISP, cybercriminals, network administrators, and advertisers.
- Install tracker blockers. These stop a browser from collecting information about the user and may also work as an ad blocker. Some tracker blockers, like NordVPN’s Threat Protection, offer other cybersecurity features such as malware protection.
- Use privacy browsers. Get an Internet browser specifically tailored with online privacy in mind: no auto-syncing, no spell-check, no auto-fill, and no plug-ins.
- Ditch Google. Google tracks a lot of data about users. To avoid this, Markuson suggested opting for other email providers and search engines.
*Researchers looked into the 100 most popular websites in 25 countries around the world. Using three different tracker blockers, they could see how many trackers (such as a cookie or a tracking pixel) these websites use to know more about their users. The methodology of the research can be found at https://nordvpn.com/blog/nordvpn-research-website-trackers/.
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