Browser Security

Basic Browser Security

For most users, browsers are your largest surface area of attack. That means securing the browser is critical to maintaining overall security. Some risks include:

• Tracking and data collection by websites
• Malware and phishing attempts
• Unauthorized access to sensitive information

The following tips and settings can be used in any browser, but will focus on Microsoft Edge as it integrates directly with Microsoft Office Suite products used by most enterprises.

1. Tracking Protection: Allows you to control how much information websites can collect about your browsing activities. This can be set to different levels of strictness to balance privacy and functionality.
2. Clearing Browsing Data: This allows you to selectively or completely clear a browser's history, cookies, and other sensitive data. This should be done regularly.
3. Do Not Track Requests: Has your browser send a signal to websites requesting that they do not track your activities, but websites are not obligated to honor the requests.
4. Certificates and SmartScreen Filter: Help identify websites that you visit and verify they are legitimate, it checks websites and download reputation to protect against malicious content.
5. Cookies and Site Permissions: Turning off optional cookies to can prevent site access to sensitive information in cookies.
6. Incognito/InPrivate Browsing: Creates a temporary browsing session that doesn't store data, but doesn't really provide true anonymity either.