Typing your information and not entering the details seems safe. However, a new study revealed that even if you decided not to provide your sensitive user information, some websites could still track your password, email, and other important details.
(Photo : Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
This photo taken on January 7, 2010 shows a woman typing on the keyboard of her laptop computer in Beijing. China declared its Internet "open" on January 14 but defended censorship that has prompted Web giant Google to threaten to pull out of the country, sparking a potential new irritant in China-US relations.
Cybersecurity experts from the University of Lausanne, Radboud University, and KU Leuven claimed that more than 100,000 online sites track user information when visitors type in their details.
Among them are some of the most popular online platforms, such as TikTok and Facebook, as well as the Russian tech giant Yandex and other third parties.
Typing Can Also Be Tracked by Websites?
According to The Wired's latest report, users in the United States and Europe are the most targeted. Involved security researchers confirmed that around 2,900 websites track U.S.-based emails.
(Photo : Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images for NEC Corporation)
An employee uses a laptop computer during a demonstration of the shared PC with face recognition technology, eliminating the need to input a password at the NEC Corporation headquarters on July 13, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. NEC Corporation has transformed its Tokyo headquarters skyscraper into a smart building to showcase its "new normal" technologies.
On the other hand, more than 1,8000 online platforms are acquiring the email addresses of EU consumers. All these tracking activities are being conducted without any user consent.
"If there's a Submit button on a form, the reasonable expectation is that it does something-that it will submit your data when you click it," said Gunes Acar, one of the cybersecurity leaders of the new study.
Acar, who is also a professor at the Radboud University's Digital Security Group, added that they were surprised to see hundreds of thousands of websites tracking user typing activities.
Top Websites Tracking Your Typing Activities
In the new study, which was published by Leaky Forms, experts provided the top websites that are tracking user email addresses and passwords.
Here are some of them:
Websites tracking U.S. users' sensitive details.
- issuu.com
- businessinsider.com
- usatoday.com
- time.com
- udemy.com
- healthline.com
- foxnews.com
- trello.com
- theverge.com
- webmd.com
Websites tracking EU users' sensitive details.
- usatoday.com
- trello.com
- independent.co.uk
- shopify.com
- marriott.com
- newsweek.com
- prezi.com
- branch.io
- prothomalo.com
- codecademy.com
- azcentral.com
Of course, involved cybersecurity experts were able to track the affected email addresses. If you want to know if your email address is already included, you can visit this link.
Previously, some experts claimed that AI easing privacy concerns is actually possible.
On the other hand, Apple Mail's new security feature can now prevent email tracking activities.
For more news updates about other security threats, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
Related Article: EU to Monitor CSAM Scanning for Child Protection Using End to End Encryption Technology
This article is owned by TechTimes
Written by: Griffin Davis
