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Information Technology Blog
by John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Private Browsing Not So Private

April 9, 2018

Do you think private browsing or incognito mode protects your privacy? Think again. More than half of consumers think that Incognito and Private browsing modes hide your identity and browsing habits from governments, organizations and advertisers. TechRepublic posted some interesting stats.

  • 65% of consumers mistakenly believe that Incognito and Private browsing modes will hide their identity and browsing habits from governments, organizations, and advertisers. — Avast, 2018
  • 77% of consumers falsely believe that their browser will alert them to potential web-based security threats, including those from third-party extensions. — Avast, 2018

Matt Adkisson, director of platform products at Avast said, "Consumers using tools like Private Browsing and Incognito Mode are being lulled into a false sense of security as these only offer limited privacy options and no real protection at all against security or privacy threats." From our experience in performing examinations of electronic devices in our digital forensics lab, we can confirm the statement. Private mode isn't so private.

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