Cookies are common now a days and mostly all the websites are using them. Like every other web application they can be used for both positive and negative functions.

First let me tell you what do we actually mean by cookies. They are small text files that are stored on the system on which a web site is being loaded.

For example if you surf www.instablogs.com, then the following cookie will be downloaded on to your computer.

We use this cookie for automatic log in purposes. For example if you logged in to our site one day on your personal computer and the without logging out you closed the browser then the next time you open www.instablogs.com then you will automatically be logged in to our account.

We also ensure that the user details are kept secure as the data that is being displayed in the above image of the cookie is encrypted using the MD-5 Encryption algorithm.

If you are using Firefox 2.0 then you can go to the Tools menu, options and then privacy tab to view and delete them and can also stop the cookies from any web site that you think is spying on your data.

Other important uses of coolies are for the advertising companies. They can download a cookie on to your computer to keep track of your surfing habits and can then tell you about the products that will be in relevance to your taste. Like if I am surfing websites related to cell phones then the ad agency will track my surfing habits and can tell me about the best cell phones in the market.

But they also can be misused by some sites or some malicious hackers.

Because cookies are stored as plain text on to a computer that means that they can be edited and read by anyone unless and until the site thinks of your privacy and encrypts the data just like we do.

Cookies can be stolen via some cross site scripting exploits on a vulnerable web application and simply applying a JavaScript code will allow the hacker to use your details for his own malicious purposes.

To explain the above mentioned risks we take the example of a popular site Restaurant.com.

The site offers discounted gift certificates through out the nation. When you surf the site the following cookies will be downloaded to your computer.

This means that you can easily change the Memberemail field with that of the person whom you want to hack and get access to all his confidential information like user name, password and all. This material can also be used in some other areas as many people use the same login and password in many accounts.

Bottom Line:

Cookies are a useful tool but can also be easily abused. They can also be used be malicious coders to track your online activities. So its better to delete cookies and accept them only from those sites whom you trust.

Via: informit48977