Cookies & Log Files

A Presentation By : Daryll Castelino

CONTENTS :

COOKIES :

A Brief Overview

Privacy

Limitations

Types

Uses

A Brief Overview

A small piece of data stored in a text file. Stores a single piece of data under a unique id name. Stored in browser directory on your Hard Disk. Customizes webpages according to the user. Saves precious time. Browser dependent. Enhances browsing experience.

Privacy

Cookies can only be read by the site that created them, or a site 'underneath' the site that created them. This prevents other websites from stealing cookies.

Cookies

Sessions

Persistent First-Party

Third-Party

Session Cookie :

Temporary. Deleted as soon as browser is closed. More secure and more reliable. Store items for short period of time. Mainly used to store items in shopping cart on your e-commerce websites

Persistent Cookie :

Permanent till some extent. Longer life compared to session cookies. Has an expiration date. Life can range from a few days to several

years

First – Party Cookie :

Cookies of the site you’re currently visiting. Allowed by default on all browsers.

Third – Party Cookie : Cookies other than first-party cookies. Generates custom ads on your current webpage. Tracks your surfing habits.

On Internet Explorer :

Program files Internet Explorer Cookies.txt

On Netscape Navigator :

Program files Netscape Navigator Cookies.txt

On Opera Mini :

Program files Opera Mini Cookies.dat

Limitations

The cookie specification introduced by Netscape also places limits on cookies. These limits are:

– 310 total cookies. – 4 kilobytes per cookie– 20 cookies per server or domain.

Uses

On e-commerce websites. Login details on user demand. Preferred language selection. Recently viewed stock quotes.

Security Issues

Network Eavesdropping.

Poor encryption.

DNS cache poisoning.

Log Files

Records events or software runs. Creates audit trials which helps to diagnose

certain problems Essentially used on server applications. Records requests by client to server. Helps in recovering from transaction failures. Generally stored on disks and are frequently

backed-up. Much briefer than cookies.

< Syntax >

[start_transaction,T]

[write_item,T,X,old_value,new_value]

[read_item,T,X]

[commit,T]

[abort,T]

Questions ???