Browser History Sniffing

I recently learned about an obnoxious privacy flaw in almost all browsers that lets websites see what other websites you’ve recently visited by examining your browser history. Besides falling into the It’s None Of Their Business category, this flaw can also be used maliciously in concert with other malware schemes. Note that this CSS-based vulnerability remains even if Javascript is disabled or Firefox’s NoScript is used.

Aside from disabling your entire browser history, a less inconvenient solution in Firefox is to visit its about:config page and set layout.css.visited_links_enabled to FALSE.

To test your browser and see additional information visit whattheinternetknowsaboutyou.com. There was also a recent Slashdot article on this issue.