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010-160 · Question #30

Why are web browser cookies considered dangerous?

The correct answer is A. Cookies support identification and tracking of users. Browser cookies are considered a privacy and security risk primarily because they enable persistent identification and behavioral tracking of users across sites and sessions.

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Question

Why are web browser cookies considered dangerous?

Options

  • ACookies support identification and tracking of users.
  • BCookies are always public and accessible to anyone on the internet.
  • CCookies consume significant amounts of storage and can exhaust disk space.
  • DCookies store critical data which is lost when a cookie is deleted.
  • ECookies can contain and execute viruses and malware.

How the community answered

(36 responses)
  • A
    89% (32)
  • B
    6% (2)
  • C
    3% (1)
  • D
    3% (1)

Why each option

Browser cookies are considered a privacy and security risk primarily because they enable persistent identification and behavioral tracking of users across sites and sessions.

ACookies support identification and tracking of users.Correct

Cookies store identifiers such as session tokens, user IDs, and third-party tracking codes that allow websites and advertisers to correlate browsing activity across multiple sessions and domains. This tracking capability enables profiling, targeted advertising, and in some cases session hijacking if a cookie is stolen. The identification and surveillance risk is the primary reason cookies are treated as a security and privacy concern.

BCookies are always public and accessible to anyone on the internet.

Cookies are scoped to their issuing domain via the Same-Origin Policy and are not accessible to arbitrary third parties on the internet.

CCookies consume significant amounts of storage and can exhaust disk space.

Cookies are capped at 4KB per cookie with per-domain browser limits, making disk space exhaustion technically impossible.

DCookies store critical data which is lost when a cookie is deleted.

Losing session data when a cookie is deleted is a usability inconvenience, not a security danger.

ECookies can contain and execute viruses and malware.

Cookies are plain-text data structures and contain no executable code; they cannot harbor or execute viruses or malware.

Concept tested: Privacy and tracking risks of HTTP cookies

Source: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Guides/Cookies

Topics

#web security#browser cookies#privacy#user tracking

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