Why incognito mode in your browser is useless

You've probably used incognito mode, for example, to simultaneously log into several email accounts or view photos of cats at your workplace. Now that search and ad bots are vigilantly watching your actions on the Internet, incognito mode seems like a very tempting option. But it doesn't really provide privacy.

How incognito mode differs from normal mode

In incognito mode:

Browsing history is not recorded;
Search queries are not saved;
Cookies are not saved;
New passwords are not recorded;
Temporary files and cached site content are not saved;
Data is not recorded in forms on sites.

As you can see, the list is long. But incognito mode only protects a small portion of your data. and honestly warn about it in their browsers. Chrome users receive a notification when they start incognito mode.

When you open a tab in incognito mode, you see a corresponding warning. We are trying to convey that your activities, even in private mode, are still visible on the sites you visit, and may be visible to your employer, your educational institution and, of course, your Internet service provider.

Darin Fisher VP of Chrome Development

Firefox also displays a disclaimer.

Private Browsing does not make you anonymous on the Internet. Your ISP, employer, or the sites themselves can track which pages you visit. Also, the private browsing mode does not protect you from keyloggers or spyware that may be installed on your computer.

Mozilla Support

By the way, browsers from Apple and Microsoft don't bother warning their users about these restrictions.

How users perceive incognito mode

Despite the disclaimers from Chrome and Firefox, a huge number of users still harbor illusions about their privacy.

Researchers at the University of Chicago and Leibniz University of Hanover conducted a survey of users of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera and Brave browsers. According to the survey results:

56.3% of respondents are confident that searches are not saved in private mode, even if the user is logged into their Google account.
40, 2% believe that sites will not be able to determine the user's location in incognito mode.
37% believe ISPs, employers and the government will not be able to track browsing history in incognito mode.
27.1% believe that incognito mode can protect against viruses.

A similar study was conducted in 2017 by the search company DuckDuckGo:

66.6% of the respondents overestimate the possibilities of the incognito regime;
41% believe that sites in incognito mode cannot track user actions;
39% believe that incognito mode does not allow sites to select targeted ads for users;
35% believe that in incognito mode, search engines do not remember user requests.

Why incognito mode is insecure

First, even if Incognito Mode does not record the sites you visit in your browser history, this data can be tracked using your IP address. Thus, your ISP, your local network administrator at work, the owner of a Wi-Fi point in a cafe, and in general anyone who can track your IP address can find out which sites you visit.

Secondly, if you log into your account on Google, Facebook, Twitter or something else, your activity, including searches and pages viewed on these sites, will also be recorded. It's obvious, but not for everyone, as DuckDuckGo polls show.

In addition, if you enter your credentials into any Chrome web application, the browser will start recording your cookies again.

How browser identification works

There is an identification that Google actively uses. Search engines create a so-called "browser fingerprint". Even if you do not use accounts and cookies, sites can still identify your browser using information such as:

Browser headers (User Agent, HTTP, ACCEPT, Do Not Track);
Screen options;
Extensions installed in the browser;
Operating system time zone;
OS version and system language;
The size and settings of your fonts.

And the list is far from complete. Thus, search engines create a kind of "portrait" of the user, to one degree or another unique. If you are wondering how secure your browser is, check it out on the website.

What ensures true privacy

By and large, all these ad-targeting tricks by search engines don't really bother users. However, in some cases, getting rid of such intrusive attention can be helpful.

For example, you intend to purchase a gift for your spouse and are looking incognito for suitable options in online stores. After a while, the spouse launches the browser as usual and sees a bunch of advertisements with offers to buy smartphones and jewelry. This is annoying and can ruin the surprise.

There are several ways to avoid this.

VPN

VPN hides your IP address and replaces it with the IP address of the remote VPN server. This makes it more difficult for ad platforms to associate your IP address with your browser.

5 Good Free VPN Services →

Tor

It is an anonymous network that passes your traffic through several random hosts before connecting you to the destination server. You can surf through Tor at least occasionally, because its speed is not very impressive. But the measures aimed at privacy are at their best in this browser.

4 special browsers for anonymous surfing →

Ghostery

There are several extensions that make it difficult for ad platforms to identify browsers. One of the best is Ghostery. It blocks most of the tracking trackers on the pages, without affecting the surfing speed in any way.