Islamabad (TDI): In 2024, there will be over 38 billion instances of web trackers gathering user activity data, with an average of one million detections each day, according to Kaspersky.
The most recent analysis of the 25 most popular web tracking services, which includes Google services, New Relic, and Microsoft.
Data collection, archiving, and analysis on users’ online activities are all part of web tracking.
Among the information that can be utilized to generate heat maps and other insights include demographics, website visits, time spent on pages, and user interactions like clicks, scrolls, and mouse movements.
Companies utilize this data to target advertisements more precisely, increase user engagement, personalize experiences, and track how well their online services are performing.
Products from Kaspersky provide a Do Not Track (DNT) functionality that disables tracking components used to keep tabs on online behavior. Kaspersky can now evaluate the level of data collection by web trackers thanks to this functionality.
Kaspersky experts examined the top 25 tracking services in order to perform this assessment.
Along with services from Microsoft, which includes Bing and other Microsoft tracking platforms, and New Relic, these include four from Alphabet Inc.: Google Display & Video 360, Google Analytics, Google AdSense, and YouTube Analytics.
After conducting a study, they found that, between July 2023 and June 2024, 38,725,551,855 data collecting incidents were recorded, with individuals providing their data on average 1,060,974 times a day.
Also read: Second Moon to Orbit Earth
The study offers a regional breakdown of the frequency of different tracking services. Major findings consist of:
- The majority of the top 25 tracking systems in Asia are owned by Google Display & Video 360. 25.47 percent of DNT component triggers in East Asia and 24.5 percent in South Asia were attributed to it, respectively. Since local tracking systems are more common there, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had the lowest percentage, at 8.38%.
- Latin America accounts for the biggest share of Google Analytics users (14.89%), followed by the Middle East (14.12%). Google Analytics monitors user behavior and keywords to enhance website traffic and performance.
- Oceania (3.76%) and the CIS (2.30%) have the lowest shares of Google AdSense trackers, while the Middle East (6.91%) and South Asia (6.85%) have the most.
- These tracking devices are now more common in practically every region. Some systems experienced declines in particular domains, while others experienced growth; all are owned by Google. This demonstrates how far Google tracks its users—far more than any other corporation.
- South Asia (12.71%) and the Middle East (12.30%) have the largest shares of YouTube Analytics, while Europe (5.65%) and North America (4.56%) have the lowest shares.
- With a share of 3.38% in Latin America, Microsoft trackers are most prevalent there, while their share in the CIS is 0.68%.
- In Africa (8.46%), Bing trackers are most active, while in the CIS (0.77%), they are least prevalent.
- Regional monitoring systems not only rank in the top 25 but occasionally outperform global competitors in South Korea, Japan, and Russia, where local internet services are well developed.
Also read: New Species of ‘Ghost Shark’ Discovered
Anna Larkina, a Kaspersky security and privacy specialist, stated, “A breach is more likely the more firms store and handle our information, even though the top 25 tracking services demonstrate that data collecting isn’t limited to a small number of businesses.”
“To protect user data and preserve their reputations, tech companies, who handle the majority of tracking, have a strong incentive in place.
However, in the end, consumers must be accountable for their own data security, exercising caution when using new platforms, and taking precautions to safeguard their privacy.”
About Kaspersky
Founded in 1997, Kaspersky is a multinational cybersecurity and online privacy firm. In order to protect companies, vital infrastructure, governments, and consumers worldwide, Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise are continuously evolving into new solutions and services.
To date, over a billion devices have been protected against targeted attacks and emerging cyber threats.
Cyber Immune solutions to combat complex and dynamic cyber threats are part of the company’s extensive security portfolio, along with industry-leading endpoint protection and customized security products and services. Protecting their most valuable assets is what we assist over 200,000 corporate clients with.
For additional information regarding web trackers in 2024, go to Securelist.com.
