Cybercriminals use web beacons as a means of collecting preliminary intelligence for targeted e-mail attacks. A cybercriminal can identify the exact moment at which a user interacts with or doesn’t interact with their mail account using Web Beacons, which allows them to craft carefully planned attacks in order to compromise user accounts or send fraudulent e-mails using the victim’s name.
It is critical to be aware of the threat posed by Web Beacons and to take the required precautions to safeguard oneself against this sneaky attack vector.
How to disable web beacons and tracker pixels. What web beacons and tracker pixels are, and why they’re so obnoxious.
Take for example a situation in which you walk into a mall and a stranger starts following you around. They make detailed notes about the stores you visit. Whenever you take a promotional flyer, they check over your shoulder to see if you read it carefully. During your shopping trip, a stopwatch measures how long you spend on each shelf. Sounds absurd and obnoxious, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, that is what actually occurs each and every time you access a popular website, open an email from an online retailer or service, or use one of their official mobile apps. An analytics system connected to virtually every website, application, and e-mail campaign is the person with the stopwatch.
Why does a company need this data? There are several reasons for this:
1 Identify your preferences and suggest products that you’re more likely to buy based on that information. After you visit a cyclist’s website, you’ll see annoying bike ads following you for around two months;
2 To improve the effectiveness of text and images on websites and e-mail messages. Companies evaluate many caption, header, and banner alternatives, selecting the ones that clients pay attention to the most
3 Recognise the most popular portions of a mobile app or website and how you engage with them;
4 To evaluate brand-new features, services, and products;
5 To provide other businesses with user behaviour and preference data.
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How tracker pixels and web beacons operate
Web beacons, commonly referred to as tracker pixels or spy pixels, are the basis for the tracking techniques outlined above. The most common tracking method involves inserting a tiny picture—size 1×1 or even 0x0 pixels—into an email, application, or web page. This image is so small that it is nearly invisible. When information is displayed on your screen, your email client or browser asks the server to download an image for you. The server then records information about you, including the time, device, operating system, browser type, and page the pixel was downloaded from. This is how the beacon’s operator discovers when and how you opened an email or website. A pixel is frequently replaced by a tiny piece of JavaScript code located inside the web page, which can gather even more precise data. In either case, you cannot see the tracker in the email message or on the website in any way. However, by tracking your navigation route and the amount of time you spend at each stop along the way, such beacons placed on every page or application screen allow someone to “follow you around.”
Cybercriminals and web beacons
Web beacons are used by cybercriminals as well as marketing firms and technology organisations. Web beacons are an easy approach to conducting preliminary reconnaissance for targeted e-mail attacks (spear phishing, business e-mail penetration). They assist cybercrooks in determining when their victims check (or do not check) their mail in order to determine the optimal moment for an attack: it is easier to hijack users’ accounts or send fraudulent e-mails in their name while the person is offline.
A hacker attack may expose user data, including interests and behaviours. There are times when even market leaders, such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and ActiveCampaign, experience data leaks of this kind. Various scams can be perpetrated using stolen information. For instance, hackers attacked Klaviyo and stole cryptocurrency investor lists. That audience can then be targeted using a phishing tactic to swindle their cryptocurrency.
Protecting yourself from tracking
While we can prevent leaks and hacks, we can ensure that tech giants’ servers collect as little data as possible about us. You can also use these tips individually or in combination:
1. Block the automatic loading of images in the e-mail. When configuring your email on a phone, computer, or web client, make sure the setting that prevents automatic image display is turned on. Even without the photos, the majority of emails make sense. Since most email clients place a “show images” button directly above the message body, loading the images only requires one click if you really need to;
2 Block web trackers. You can stop the majority of web beacons from loading. In eScan security products, you can find private browsing settings. Enhanced Tracking Protection can be turned on and adjusted in the Firefox browser. In the catalogues of officially advised extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, specialised privacy plugins are accessible. Entering privacy or tracking protection in the search bar will bring up these results;
3 Protect your internet connection. Tracking protection is effective at the operating system or home router level. If you disable web beacons on your router, they will no longer function not just in your e-mail and on web pages, but also inside applications and on your smart TV. To accomplish this, we recommend enabling Secure DNS in the OS system or network settings and using a DNS server that disables trackers. A VPN connection can also provide tracking protection in specific cases. If this is the more convenient choice for you, make sure that your VPN provider offers tracker blocking.
