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Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

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Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#51

Post by Frogolocalypse »

phkahler wrote: post #32
kristoff_it wrote: post #3

Use Firefox Containers and live happy. https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/containers/

But if the comment above yours is correct, you're defeating a small security measure: >> It's basic fingerprinting used by every major security-sensitive service, like banks. >> The more entropy (unique bits of data) about your browser context they can collect, the easier to recognize you and see if you're a human or not (and block if they need to).

A security measure for some is a privacy breech for others.

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#52

Post by jasonkostempski »

yamalight wrote: post #26
nomadiccoder wrote: post #10

I use ublock origin to block ads and ghostery to block a lot of trackers, theres some configurability to block some stuff from social media accounts maybe it will help..?

umatrix [1] from gorhill (ubo dev) does that pretty well (along with a bunch of other things) [1] https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix

Does uBlock Origin not do it out of the box?

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#55

Post by greenyoda »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #52
yamalight wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

umatrix [1] from gorhill (ubo dev) does that pretty well (along with a bunch of other things) [1] https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix

Does uBlock Origin not do it out of the box?

uMatrix is more granular. From example, you can tell it to allow images and CSS from a domain, but not cookies or JavaScript.

Or, you can tell it to allow JavaScript from Facebook while you're on Facebook's site, but not when you're on other sites.

I find both uBlock Origin and uMatrix to be useful.

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#56

Post by Nickg00617 »

blakes wrote: post #6
soared wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without blacklisting a bunch of 3rd party scripts using a different browser or even device would be useless. Once you log in to your account, this new browser/device is automatically linked to all your old browsers/devices, so there is no difference. From 2015: https://adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/when-evaluating...

Qubes OS pretty much solves this problem! https://www.qubes-os.org/

The criticism above is wholly unwarranted. You are basically running a collection of VM's. You can create, clone, and dispose of operating systems at will.

Gotta laugh at people criticizing without knowing...Unless connecting from Linux throws major flags, you are good.

It's a much safer OS than Windows, standalone linux, on any given day. Anything touching the web can be disposed and replaced at will. Along with the network management VM.

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#57

Post by Nickg00617 »

endymi0n wrote: post #8
blakes wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qubes OS pretty much solves this problem! https://www.qubes-os.org/

...or "how to immediately get flagged as a paranoid weirdo nerd and die without credit FOREVER ALONE" A little like the paradox that by using more secure browsers and configurations, any browser fingerprinting algorithm will single you out reliably from all the other sheep.

Connecting from a Linux based VM will get you flagged? How about one VM used exclusively to connect to banking sites with cookies remaining?

Not sure if you are familiar with how it works, or how using a VM OS works. It's a bare metal hypervisor with VM's to be used at will.

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#58

Post by zaphirplane »

manigandham wrote: post #11

It's basic fingerprinting used by every major security-sensitive service, like banks. The more entropy (unique bits of data) about your browser context they can collect, the easier it is to recognize you and see if you're a human or not (and block if they need to).

What do you mean? I can use a browser incognito mode and still login

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#59

Post by manigandham »

zaphirplane wrote: post #58
manigandham wrote: post #11

It's basic fingerprinting used by every major security-sensitive service, like banks. The more entropy (unique bits of data) about your browser context they can collect, the easier it is to recognize you and see if you're a human or not (and block if they need to).

What do you mean? I can use a browser incognito mode and still login

It's a security measure to see if you're logging in under strange circumstances or an automated browser using stolen credentials or something. Some sites will ask security questions only if they see a new device or IP or geolocation, for example. Incognito just means empty cache and cookies, that's not that suspicious on it's own given all the other details.

Re: Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?

#60

Post by piyush_soni »

captaincrowbar wrote: post #33
pwython wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny enough, the only thing that got wrong was it saying I wasn't logged into HN.

Same for me. Maybe something changed about HN since the demo was written?

For me it shows I'm logged into HN, but shows I'm 'not logged in' many of other things that I'm actually logged in to, like Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and a few others.
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