Abstract
This paper investigates the effectiveness of the private browsing modes built into four major Internet browsers. In examining the phenomenon of the private browsing modes built into four widely used Internet browsers, this paper aims to determine whether one can identify when a private browsing mode has been utilized by a suspect to perform a criminal or illegal act and to what extent the forensic examination of a computer can expose evidence of private browsing use.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Google: Incognito mode (browse in private) (2013). http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95464. Accessed 10 Mar 2013
Microsoft: InPrivate Browsing (2013). http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/features/in-private. Accessed 13 Mar 2013
Mozilla: Firefox 3.5 (2009). http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/3.5/releasenotes/. Accessed 11 Mar 2013
Apple: Safari 5.1 (OS X Lion): Browse privately (2013). https://support.apple.com/kb/PH5000. Accessed 10 Mar 2013
Fox, S.: ‘Porn mode’ browsing not really that private, NBCNews, 24 August 2010. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38834872/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/porn-mode-browsing-not-really-private/#.UQl3Nh2EzTq. Accessed 11 Mar 2013
Keizer, G.: Microsoft Adds Privacy Tools to IE8 (2008). http://www.pcworld.com/article/150334/ie8_privacy_tools.html. Accessed 13 Mar 2013
Mozilla: Private Browsing- Browse the web without saving information about the sites you visit (2013). http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-browse-web-without-saving-info. Accessed 11 Mar 2013
Aggarwal, G., Bursztein, E., Jackson, C., Boneh, D.: An analysis of private browsing modes in modern browsers. In: Proceedings of the 19th USENIX Security Symposium, Washington, DC, Stanford University (2010). http://static.usenix.org/events/sec10/tech/full_papers/Aggarwal.pdf. Accessed 10 Mar 2013
Eckersley, P.: How unique is your web browser? In: Atallah, M.J., Hopper, N.J. (eds.) PETS 2010. LNCS, vol. 6205, pp. 1–18. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Frowen, A.: How Private Is ‘In Private’ Browsing? (2010). http://www.intaforensics.com/Blog/How-Private-Is-In-Private-Browsing.aspx. Accessed 17 Mar 2013
Mahendrakar, A., Irving, J., Patel, S.: Forensic analysis of private browsing mode in popular browsers. In: Proceedings of the USENIX security symposium (2010). http://www.mocktest.net/paper.pdf. Accessed 2 May 2013
Said, H., Al Mutawa, N., Al Awadhi, I., Guimaraes, M.: Forensic analysis of private browsing artefacts. In: International Conference on Innovations in Information Technology (IIT), Dubai, 25–27 April, pp. 197–202 (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Montasari, R., Peltola, P. (2015). Computer Forensic Analysis of Private Browsing Modes. In: Jahankhani, H., Carlile, A., Akhgar, B., Taal, A., Hessami, A., Hosseinian-Far, A. (eds) Global Security, Safety and Sustainability: Tomorrow's Challenges of Cyber Security. ICGS3 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 534. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23276-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23276-8_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23275-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23276-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)