What happens to your security when you browse the internet?

Have you ever wondered how many third party sites are attached to the sites you browse online? What impact do these third party sites have on your online security? How is your browsing history tracked?

These are only a few questions you may have in regards to online security when browsing the internet.

I decided to use the Firefox Lightbeam Add-On to track how many sites I was connected to when I searched the web for 20 minutes. The following image is the graph that shows just how many third party sites I connected with during a 20 minute time-frame.

During 20 minutes of web browsing, I visited 20 sites. Some of those 20 sites had common themes (ie: clothing stores), and some were very different than other sites I visited (ie: school learning portal). Just from glancing briefly at the stats, Lightbeam recognized that from visiting 20 websites, I was connected to 203 third party sites.

There were a couple sites in which I browsed for less than 1 minute before going to another page, but some websites I spent a lengthy time browsing. The graph shows a visual representation of what sites I browsed and how many connections they produced.

From looking at the graph, you can tell that I spent some time on the Toronto Star website. I browsed the site and clicked on links and went to various pages on the site. The Toronto Star website has many third party connections to it. The top three sites I browsed that had the most connections were; The Toronto Star, Lululemon, and AutoTrader.

The graph also shows a visual depiction of what sites are connected to each other. For example I browsed the Hamilton Bulldogs webpage, which then led me to the Detroit Red Wings web page. As well, it was closely linked to a Google search I conducted on Google. Those three sites are intertwined and close to each other on the graph.

When you use the Lightbeam extension on Firefox, the graph is very interactive. You are able to see what sites you browsed, but it also tells you what third party sites you were connected to just by scrolling over the chart with your mouse.

By using the Lightbeam extension you become educated on the fact that what you browse online is not secure. Your information is spread across the internet to various sites that you had no intention of connecting with. The key lesson learned here is that you need to be careful with what you search, what information you provide to online sites, and what you allow sites to access (ie: location services).

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