I am using Mozilla Firefox as my web browser. I have configured it to clear cookies, active logins, form & search history, and offline website data when I close Firefox. Should I also configure it to clear the cache? What are the privacy implications if I don’t clear the cache?
EDIT: additional information:
- My goal is to reduce fingerprinting and tracking by websites.
- I use Mozilla Firefox on my personal laptop that almost never leaves my residence. The laptop has full disk encryption. I am the only user of the laptop.
- I don’t erase my web browser history. I want to keep browser history for my future reference.
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This is why I drill my drives everytime I shut down my computer /s
Ah, the famous hard reset
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Yeah the school district I worked for did this too
Are you even taking privacy seriously if you don’t use thermite every time you close a browser tab to erase all evidence?
That’s why you use a TMP drive for cache, a ram disk or on Linux store cache in tmpfs.
It you can also use librewolf
You probably want to add to your post what kind of device in what kind of environment we are talking about.
Is it a device in your own home where you live alone or something you carry around? Is the device storage encrypted?
What are you worried about? Local access or some sort of data leakage when you revisit a site?
Thank you for the feedback. I have added additional information to the original post. I hope that the additional information answers all your questions.
Is this really necessary since if it is your own device
Yes, because caches willl change the way your browser sends requests, and this can be used to fingerprint you
Do I have to clear history too? Or just cookies and site data is fine?
Personally I shred the profile directory after every use.
Or use a QubrsOS DispVM, so the entire VM is destroyed after every use.
Try librewolf
In my opinion there attack surface about cache of browser which can lead to privacy leak https://portswigger.net/web-security/web-cache-poisoning
