Computer Hope
Software => Internet browsers => Topic started by: 12panda on May 08, 2018, 02:50:30 PM
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Ok. I hope to be as succinct as possible.
With all of the different types of accounts that index your search history (google, Apple ID, Microsoft) so it can be accessed from different machines....
If you logged into a public computer, for example, at the library....and then signed into google and then viewed your google account history to access a certain site you had previously visited...would your entire search history that google displayed at that moment be known on the public computers network? Or would not selecting any site from the google history and deleting it while logged in (the entire history) mean the public computer would not have your entire search history?
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If you use Google from a public computer like in a public library, and you don't log in to a Google account such as Gmail, nothing will be
logged associated with your personal search history, only with the history of the public library computer.
If you're logged in to Gmail etc., the information you search for will be registered to your account search history, and the IP of the library computer will be associated with your account e.g. "Places I've been." Google will know you use that library. It may care that you searched for those things at the library and not at home, but I doubt it. But it's possible.
This is why you really don't want to check your e-mail from the public library. Or from any computer you don't control for the majority of the time. Even if you're using an incognito window, or the library has protections built in to segretate session data between individual library patrons, your info is on that computer. Another user could conceivably see what you searched for. You can't guarantee it won't happen, so in the security world, that's the same as "it could happen, and you should assume it will."
Just use Google without logging in to Gmail/Google docs/etc on that machine. Or even better, use duckduckgo.com ....
Hope this helps.
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Thanks for your reply but it doesn’t quite answer me. In the scenario described, would simply logging into my google account and clicking on “search history” on the google account result in the library’s network having access to the entire search history on my google account?
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Oh sorry.
If the computer and network are perfectly configured (in a perfect world) no.
If the public library computer isn't properly secured and/or it's been compromised, it's possible.
So I wouldn't recommend it but you might be ok doing it.
Hope this helps.
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Ok. So as long as the network wasn’t compromised, not even the network admin would gain access to my entire google history while logged into his network at the library—correct?
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If you view your Google history on a public computer, that information is potentially exposed in two places
1. it travels over the network. Public computer networks, especially publicly-FUNDED computer networks, are on average more vulnerable to network eavesdropping
2. When you view that data in a web browser, it's stored somewhere on the computer -- in RAM, or on disk, and probably both. This data is visible to another user if one of the following is true
2a. the computer is not properly configured for maximum security (who configured the computer? what is their policy? does the library absolve itself of any legal responsibility if your personal data is exposed? If so, assume it's not securely configured)
2b. The computer has been hacked by another library patron
Hope this helps-
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Assuming the library ran a tight ship and their network was properly secured, and the computer was kept free of corruption...it shouldn’t be an issue. Right? I think I’m getting the worst case. But if the rift protocols are followed the network admin couldn’t later access my personal search history?
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What are you afraid of ? ?
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But if the rift protocols are followed the network admin couldn’t later access my personal search history?
What type of system is it? Windows? Windows 10? Is it governed by a local policy or a domain policy? There's just so many variables. If you're looking for a guarantee, you can't get one without knowing all the details that the administrator would know. Ask the library's administrator - let us know what they say..
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The library Admin is gonna say HuHH ? ?
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Precisely :)
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My fear is that by looking at my searches and history, my security could be compromised. If you knew I searched for x bank, then logged in, and you also had access to my account information on the library card (name/address), you might piece together information. Or you might, if I search Facebook and then log in, be able to access my account. Basically, if an app or system logs you, if you log into that system to access mail and thus bring up the log while signed in, your whole life could be destroyed. Or am I freaking out over nothing?
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Nope...your fears are mis-placed...someone would need a key-logger to do what you described.
If you are that worried stop usin a PC altogether and move to Sri-Lanka...
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IMO there is such a thing as worrying too much.
The scenario you described is sort of like worrying that somebody could take a photograph of your house key, make a copy, and then rob your house when you aren't home. It's *possible* but it's unlikely enough that without direct evidence there isn't much reason to say, specifically make sure your house keys don't appear in photographs.
Similarly somebody COULD piece together say your phone PIN from a photograph of the phone by analyzing the fingermarks. But again it would be rather "out there" to run with that and avoid having your phone appear in other people's photographs for "security reasons".
Like the computer scenario's described, the above require that somebody is specifically targeting you, which means you likely have a much bigger problem anyway. If it's just generally trying to steal information for identity theft there are much easier ways to get that information from a lot of different individuals for malicious purposes than performing a forensic analysis of library computers.
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And unless he's independently wealthy beyond imagination noone is gonna do the above...
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It's correct that nothing will probably happen.
If your question is "could it?" - Yes, it could, and it happens all the time.
If your question is "will it?" - Probably not.
If your question is "how can I be sure it won't happen?" - The only answer is, don't access personal data at the library.