SHOCK CLAIM: Your online PORN history WILL be made public

Those who view pornographic content online should expect their entire search history to be released

YOUR pornographic search history will be made public – and associated with your real name, an online security expert has cautioned.

 

People who view pornography online should expect their entire search history to be released online – and linked with their real name.

Software engineer Brett Thomas this week issued the shocking warning on online privacy.

According to the engineer, it is relatively easy for hackers to gain access to your sensitive search data – even if you use incognito or private browsing modes.

 

If you are viewing porn online in 2015 you should expect that at some point your porn viewing history will be publicly released and attached to your name

Brett Thomas, software engineer

Mr Thomas posted the shocking claim on his blog: "If a malicious party obtained identifiable access logs for just one of the websites that know your name, and view logs for just one of the adult websites you’ve visited, it could infer with very high probability - beyond plausible deniability - a list of porn you've viewed.

"At any time, somebody could post a website that allows you to search anybody by email or Facebook username and view their porn browsing history.

"All that's needed are two nominal data breaches and an enterprising teenager that wants to create havoc."

 

Incognito or Private Browsing modes are not enough to protect your privacy online as your activity still leaves a unique footprint on every website you visit, Mr Thomas explains.

Almost every website you visit will track you, as this data is incredibly valuable to companies.

Unfortunately each webpage you visit will also harvest enough data to link your user account to your private browser fingerprint, Mr Thomas cautions in his blog post.

 

Using an Incognito or Private Browsing Mode is not enough to hide your identity, the engineer warns

Mr Thomas summarises the risk to those viewing explicit material online – "If you are watching/viewing porn online in 2015, even in Incognito mode, you should expect that at some point your porn viewing history will be publicly released and attached to your name."

The news comes just a few weeks after it was revealed that YouPorn and Pornhub had been affected by a dangerous cyber-attack.

The high profile pornographic services were among a number of websites that had fallen prey to a malware attack, according to security firm Malwarebytes.

XHamster – the 71st most popular website in the world – was hit by the attack earlier this month. 

The malware is found in advertisements on the website, which redirect users to fraudulent webpages.

A similar hack – in which a popular online porn service took pictures of its users and used them for ransom – was also reported this summer.