Blocking those Secret, Stubborn Cookies

Published: 2009-08-12. Last Updated: 2009-08-12 15:42:11 UTC
by David Goldsmith (Version: 1)
6 comment(s)

Robert wrote in last night in response to a story in the latest SANS NewsBites newsletter that discussed a report about the increasing use of flash cookies, using Adobe Flash, that are not affected the privacy controls setup in the web browser.

He pointed out that for folks who use Firefox, there is an add-on called Better Privacy that can block them.

Here is the original Wired story and here is a link to the Better Privacy add-on.

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6 comment(s)

Comments

My online banking access relies on Flash cookies for identifying a computer I've used in the past, allowing me to avoid challenge questions or SMS'd one-time passcodes. If you decide to start blocking these en masse, your spouse might not be too happy when they go to an online banking account.

RJ

Aug 12th 2009
1 decade ago

True, the add-on author does point out you should "exclude important cookies from deletion" and has steps in the FAQ on how to exclude certain flash cookies from any automatic deletion.

David

Aug 12th 2009
1 decade ago

More coverage here: http://www.bmighty.com/blog/main/archives/2009/05/more_ways_to_de.html, including info on how to clean them out even if you don't use Firefox. CCleaner from ccleaner.com now deletes flash cookies AND all the directories in %APPDATA%\Macromedia.

AngusS-F

Aug 12th 2009
1 decade ago

I prefer the Flash Block plugin :P

Steven Chamberlain

Aug 12th 2009
1 decade ago

Macintouch is covering this from the Mac side of the fence, and has pointers to a simple app that deletes all the Flash cookies. It also deletes your Flash security preferences, it seems...
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/security/index.html#d12aug2009

PJ

Aug 13th 2009
1 decade ago

Flash has "security"? lol

Steven

Aug 14th 2009
1 decade ago

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