One of the most important factors for Internet users is their privacy. The truth is that when browsing the network there can be many ways in which they obtain personal data. They can collect information on the use we give on different platforms, what programs we use, how we navigate… There have been cases in which important services on the network have collected all kinds of information to later sell it. In this article we will explain why they can track us even when browsing in incognito mode .
Incognito mode is not as private as we think
Modern browsers nowadays have the possibility of using the incognito mode function. This, at least on paper, can help improve privacy. Web pages may have difficulty tracking us, we leave less data, no information is stored, etc.
However, the reality is that even when browsing in incognito mode with our browser, they could track us. There are different ways to do it and we will talk about it in this article.
Keep in mind that browsing in incognito mode basically means that the browser does not record which pages we visit. It is not stored in the browsing history, cookies are not created and you can even disable some browser functions.
How can they track in incognito mode
As we mentioned even when browsing in incognito mode they could track us. There are different techniques that web pages can use for this. We will explain what are the most frequent methods they could use.
Traffic leaving the team
It is true that we can prevent our computer and the browser itself from registering the sites we visit, for example. However, the network in which we are connected could track all the content that comes out of our equipment.
This means that if for example we are in a network in a workplace or study, no matter how much we are in private navigation everything we visit could be registered. In the end, in certain networks you can use filters to capture traffic. That is independent of whether or not we use the incognito mode in our browser. We would have to use other methods to really encrypt our connection.
Web pages can track us
Also, regardless of whether or not we are in incognito mode, web pages will be able to know if we connect . Therefore, if we use the incognito mode to prevent a page from knowing that we enter or not, it is not the best idea.
A website, for example, might know where we connect from. This can be seen if for example we try to enter a website that is restricted in our country, such as when entering the page of a television.
Track the network
Another way is by network tracking . This can have several cases. For example, our operator could continue tracking our connection, where we navigate, even if we are in incognito mode.
We could also be victims of a Man in The Middle attack. Basically this means that someone tracks our data and can get information. It could happen when browsing an open network through unencrypted pages, for example.
Malware or insecure extensions
On the other hand, even if we are browsing in incognito mode we can be victims of malware attacks that aim to track everything we do on the Internet. We might even have extensions that theoretically do not work in this browser mode, but in reality it is and is tracking all our data.
Therefore we can say that keeping the equipment safe is again something fundamental. In case of having a virus, it could track all the information we enter in the browser despite browsing in incognito mode.
In short, incognito mode can be useful if we do not want the browser to register the pages we visit, for example. However, they may still track our information and put privacy at risk.
