Tracking users with favicons, even in incognito mode

Summary

Supercookie uses favicons to assign a unique identifier to website visitors. Unlike traditional tracking methods, this ID can be stored almost persistently and cannot be easily cleared by the user. The tracking method works even in the browser's incognito mode and is not cleared by flushing the cache, closing the browser or restarting the operating system, using a VPN or installing AdBlockers. 🍿 Live demo. About 💭 Inspiration Paper by Scientists at University of Illinois, Chicago: www.cs.uic.edu Article by heise: heise.de 🌱 Purpose This repository is for educational and demonstration purposes only! The demo of "supercookie" as well as the publication of the source code of this repository is intended to draw attention to the problem of tracking possibilities using favicons. 📕 Full documentation Installation 🔧 Docker requirements: Docker daemon Clone repository git clone https://github.com/jonasstrehle/supercookie Update .env file in supercookie/server/.env HOST_MAIN = yourdomain.com # or localhost:10080 PORT_MAIN = 10080 HOST_DEMO = demo.yourdomain.com # or localhost:10081 PORT_DEMO = 10081 Run container cd supercookie/server docker-compose up -> Webserver will be running at https://yourdomain.com 🤖 Local machine requirements: Node.js Clone repository git clone https://github.com/jonasstrehle/supercookie Update .env file in supercookie/server/.env HOST_MAIN = localhost:10080 PORT_MAIN = 10080 HOST_DEMO = localhost:10081 PORT_DEMO = 10081 Run service cd supercookie/server node --experimental-json-modules main.js -> Webserver will be running at http://localhost:10080 Workwise of supercookie Modern browsers offer a wide range of features to improve and simplify the user experience. One of these features are the so-called favicons: A favicon is a small (usually 16×16 or 32×32 pixels) logo used by web browsers to brand a website in a recognizable way. Favicons are usually shown by most browsers in the address bar and next to the page's name in a list of bookmarks. To serv...