Usually, there are only a couple of ways information is gathered: your
ip address and your cookies.
Through your saved cookies, sites/companies can see what types of
websites you visit most, what sort of things you commonly search for,
and other similar information (this is how "personalized ads" are
personalized).
With your ip address, which is publicly available (unless you're using
a dynamic proxy), a remote user can get your city, state, zip code,
service provider, connection speed, OS stats, OS version, connection
time, and if they have access (authorized or unauthorized) to your
isp's databases, they can also get your full name, street address,
phone number, and other such information.
There are many other ways of getting information off of your computer,
but they are far less common. Pretty much, you shouldn't keep any
really important personal information (credit card numbers, social
security numbers, medical/legal records, etc.) anywhere on your
computer (including browser 'auto-fill' tools or cookies, even if
they're 'secure'), as it is entirely possible for a remote user/script
to have full access to EVERYTHING on your system. It's unlikely,
because it would require little or no security on your end and someone
who really knows what they're doing (or a highly sophisticated script)
on the other end, but you should remember that it's feasible and not
incredibly difficult... |