Leading cyber safety and security company NortonLifeLock has released AntiTrack – new software to increase online privacy by preventing websites and third-party companies tracking searches and collecting personal data.
Norton AntiTrack is a new app and a browser extension for Windows PCs so users can have more control of their online privacy and secure their personal data.
The latest Norton Consumer Cyber Safety Pulse report found advertising trackers can see up to 73 per cent of an average user’s browsing history.
During a typical week, consumers encounter 177 tracking organisations, with more than half of those trackers within the first two hours of browsing.
That means that even if you clear your browsing history every day, it would only about two hours to come across 50 per cent of all trackers.
Norton AntiTrack is designed to put more control in users’ hands so they can decide if they want to leave behind a digital footprint.
Norton AntiTrack can hide a person’s identity to shield them from tracking and fingerprinting attempts so they can visit sites more freely and without sacrificing their computer’s speed.
“As people spend more time online than ever before, we’re seeing increasing interest in how to protect online privacy,” said Darren Shou, head of technology, NortonLifeLock.
“Yet, despite many of the online privacy tools available, most companies can still identify us via unique characteristics that create a fingerprint.
“In fact, the largest trackers know about 50 percent of browsing history for nearly all online users.
“With Norton AntiTrack, we’re delivering new ways to help put control back in the hands of consumers so they can help protect their online privacy.”
Anyone online is being tracked every single day with every website we visit leaving a digital trail of personal data which is gathered from cookies, fingerprinting and profiling.
This data is used in a variety of ways – but mainly to target advertising and information to influence where you go and what you look at online.
Norton AntiTrack gives users control to be able to view and track third party attempts to harvest their data.
The software will also tell them when tracking attempts have been blocked.
The dashboard gives users the option to choose if they would like third parties to track them on particular sites.
Apple introduced similar technology for macOS and iOS users with users given the choice to allow certain sites and apps to track them.
Norton AntiTrack key features:
– Anti-Fingerprinting Capabilities: Masks users’ unique identifiers including their IP address, location, device and operating system, font size, screen resolution and more, helping prevent companies from creating a digital ‘fingerprint’ profile of the user to track and profile them.
– Tracker Cookie Blocking: Helps block cookies that attempt to track browsing history and collect personal information.
– Faster Browsing: By helping block trackers before the webpage starts to load, it means webpages are enabled to load faster
– Tracking Dashboard: Offers visibility and insights on third-party tracking attempts and ranks them by level of concern.
Norton AntiTrack is available on Windows 10 and Windows 11 (excluding Windows 10 in S mode and Windows running on ARM processor), supporting Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox and Microsoft Edge browsers. It is priced at $64.99 per year.
