Not Much Privacy in IE’s Privacy Mode
In Microsoft’s latest, newest browser, Internet Explorer 8, they’ve introduced a “privacy mode” labeled InPrivateBrowsing as its best feature. The main purpose of InPrivateBrowsing is to keep other users of the same computer from accessing your website information. Unfortunately a number of reports issued by those in the know, PCAdvisor included, Explorer’s privacy mode isn’t actually all that private. The features are primarily cosmetic and information can be easily recovered. But, because it looks so good users feel a sense of security that isn’t there.
Microsoft created the InPrivateBrowsing feature to protect Internet privacy by deleting data that is retained by Internet Explorer when an individual is surfing, such as the browser history. This feature has been given the name “Porn Mode” since it hides where you’ve visited on the web from nosy folk who want to spy on you. However, Forensic experts were about to pull up this “protected” information with little problem. One of the most touted features of InPrivateBrowsing is that it disables cookies. Cookies hold information such as login details and other data. Without cookies, that information is secure. The browser also doesn’t allow your surfing history to be written to the Windows registry, which is another way your information could be accessed.
But, here is the flaw with InPrivateBrowsing. The Internet cache files that are stored on your computer to make your pages load faster when you surf are not deleted or disabled. You can manually delete them, but with the right software, they can easily be accessed. Still, a user can go to options and delete temporary Internet files, cookies and cache, but why bother when you could just use privacy mode to make sure no evidence of your surfing is left online? That is a much simpler solution than doing it manually. Let’s face it, both manual deletion and privacy mode can do the job, but manual deletion is—suspicious.
