Cookies

Cookies are a type of web technology that allow websites to remember small pieces of information. They are used to maintain state between different webpages and can be used for authentication, customization, and tracking purposes.

Cookies are small text files that are sent to the user’s web browser from a website. When the user visits the website again, the browser sends the cookie back to the server. The size of a cookie is limited to 4 KB, so they are typically used for small amounts of data.

Cookies are commonly used for authentication and tracking purposes. For authentication, they can be used to store small amounts of data, such as the user’s login credentials, in order to keep the user logged into a website. For tracking, they can store data used to track user activity on a website, such as the pages the user has visited.

While cookies are useful for maintaining user sessions and tracking activity, they also can be abused. Malicious users can use them to obtain sensitive information such as login credentials. To combat this, websites often use secure (HTTPS) connections and encryption to ensure that cookies are only sent to and from the server in an encrypted form.

In addition, web browsers give users the ability to control cookies. Browsers often provide the ability to disable or delete cookies, as well as set various levels of cookie security.