Julie R. recently moved into a new apartment and was looking online for new furniture.
Eventually, she found a nice sofa from a website that she had shopped with before.
Everything looked legitimate, and the website had plenty of positive reviews.
The problem was the website was fraudulent.
You see, Julie was browsing a fake website that was set up to mimic a legitimate e-commerce website.
Again, it was a website she had purchased from before, so Julie thought everything was safe.
It turns out that hackers had used device fingerprinting from Julie’s previous visits to the website.
So, when Julie visited the fake website, it detected her browser type and unique identifiers about her computer.
The device fingerprinting allowed the hackers to create a fake website that would appear real to Julie since she had previously visited it.
Eventually, Julie purchased a sofa on the fake website, entering her payment information like normal.
But the payment was routed to the scammer’s account.
A few days later Julie reached out to the company since she didn’t receive any shipping information but never received a response.
Then, a few days later her bank contacted her about several fraudulent charges.
The scammers had used her credit card on several websites.
These days, hackers are always looking for new and unique ways to take advantage of their victims, and device fingerprinting is one of the newer ways to do it.
What is device fingerprinting?:
Device fingerprinting is a technique used to track users based on unique characteristics.
For instance, it gathers information such as browser data, operating systems, and other hardware information.
By combining all this data, it creates a “fingerprint” of the device which makes it unique from other devices.
Benefits of device fingerprinting:
Some websites use device fingerprinting to prevent fraud.
For example, websites use it to block people from creating multiple accounts for free trials.
In addition, the tactic can be used to create a personal experience.
For instance, it recognizes the user and provides products they are interested in.
A third benefit of device fingerprinting is that it can be used to verify that the device used to log in is the same device that the user previously used to log in.
Some websites use device fingerprinting to ensure that the person logging in was the same person that previously did so.
Unfortunately, hackers can exploit device fingerprinting.
Issues with device fingerprinting:
The biggest problem is that hackers can make a copy of your device fingerprint.
Then, the hackers can use your fingerprint to access your account on a particular website.
The website would recognize the fingerprint as being legitimate and would likely give the hacker access.
Another concern is that hackers can create a fake website that matches the device’s fingerprint, like they did with Julie.
The hackers trick the computer into visiting the fake website because they know all the data about the computer and make it seem as if it is a trusted website.
Lastly, device fingerprinting can let a hacker track a victim across multiple websites and gather information about their preferences and habits.
Device fingerprinting is a powerful tool for identifying specific users.
It has some legitimate uses but the downside to device fingerprinting is that it creates privacy concerns and can be used for scams.
The best way to reduce device fingerprinting is to use a privacy browser such as Brave.
In addition, look for a VPN that offers “browser fingerprint masking.”
