Browsers have long been telling us this lie that using incognito or private mode hides our online activity and keeps us anonymous. Unfortunately, this could not be farther from the truth. Why?
Because using incognito mode still allows people to see your browsing history and online activity.
Here’s how it works:
Is Incognito enough?
The truth is, using incognito mode means you’re only deleting your browsing history session from the browser on the device you’re using. The information is still stored somewhere on your device, on your ISP’s database, on your browsing company’s database, router, and other places.
In fact, even other people that are using your device can easily find out what you did while browsing incognito. And it’s not that complicated to do.
People can still see your incognito history
Don’t get this mixed up. Incognito mode only protects you from people that don’t care enough to do a little bit of digging to find out what you’re doing online.
If somebody wants to find out what you did online while using incognito mode, there’s plenty of ways to do it. Here are a few examples:
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- If you were logged into your Google account, they could check your “Google my activity” page https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity.
- They could use apps like KidsGuardPro that would not only tell them the incognito history but also has a powerful keylogger that allows people to find out your passwords and accounts.
- If you’re using a Windows device, type “Ipconfig /displaydns” in Command Prompt, and all the websites you visited will pop-up. Yes, including what you visited while incognito.
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When you open a new incognito window in Google Chrome, it even states that:
“Your activity might still be visible to:
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- Websites that you visit
- Your employer or school
- Your Internet service provider.”
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So, in reality, incognito mode just provides a false sense of privacy.
The dangers of incognito mode
Incognito mode can be very dangerous to your privacy. And when you open an incognito or private window, that’s not made very clear by most browsers.
But everybody should know that incognito mode doesn’t hide your activity from your ISP, workplace or school, advertisers, or data collection company. Incognito mode does not hide you from law enforcement, either.
Everything you do online while browsing incognito is just as out in the open for any hacker as normal internet browsing.
Getting hacked in incognito mode
Another common misconception about browsing incognito is that it protects you from hackers, malware, or adware. That couldn’t be any farther from the truth.
Incognito mode doesn’t by itself provide any security whatsoever. If you can get hacked or if malware can get through while you’re browsing the internet normally, it can happen while you’re incognito as well.
Stay anonymous and protected online
If your privacy is a priority to you, you shouldn’t rely on incognito mode for protection. While this option is good for deleting your history and data after a session, browsing incognito still exposes all your data to anybody that wants to get their hands on it.
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are the perfect tool to go with browsing incognito. See, a VPN service encrypts all your traffic to protect you from hackers. Plus, it changes your IP address to one from a remote location so nobody can find out what you do online, not even your ISP, the government, or annoying advertisers and data collectors.
CyberGhost VPN is one of the best options for online privacy. Our VPN no-logs policy assures users we never keep any records of their online activity. We also use military-grade encryption to keep your data safe from the world’s most skilled cyber-criminals.
We have over 6200 servers from 90+ countries worldwide. And we provide the latest VPN protocols available, including WireGuard®, IKEv2, L2TP/IPsec, or OpenVPN.
Try out CyberGhost VPN now by clicking on the link. You’re not risking anything because you’re covered by a 45-days money-back guarantee period.
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