<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Web-based browser fingerprint (or device fingerprint) is a tool used to identify and track user activity in web traffic. It is also used to identify computers that are abusing online advertising and also to prevent credit card fraud. A device fingerprint is created by extracting multiple parameter values from a browser API (e.g. operating system type or browser version). The acquired parameter values are then used to create a hash using the hash function. The disadvantage of using this method is too high susceptibility to small, normally occurring changes (e.g. when changing the browser version number or screen resolution). Minor changes in the input values generate a completely different fingerprint hash, making it impossible to find similar ones in the database. On the other hand, omitting these unstable values when creating a hash, significantly limits the ability of the fingerprint to distinguish between devices. This weak point is commonly exploited by fraudsters who knowingly evade this form of protection by deliberately changing the value of device parameters. The paper presents methods that significantly limit this type of activity. New algorithms for coding and comparing fingerprints are presented, in which the values of parameters with low stability and low entropy are especially taken into account. The fingerprint generation methods are based on popular Minhash, the LSH, and autoencoder methods. The effectiveness of coding and comparing each of the presented methods was also examined in comparison with the currently used hash generation method. Authentic data of the devices and browsers of users visiting 186 different websites were collected for the research.</p></abstract>

Web-based browser fingerprint (or device fingerprint) is a tool used to identify and track user activity in web traffic. It is also used to identify computers that are abusing online advertising and also to prevent credit card fraud. A device fingerprint is created by extracting multiple parameter values from a browser API (e.g. operating system type or browser version). The acquired parameter values are then used to create a hash using the hash function. The disadvantage of using this method is too high susceptibility to small, normally occurring changes (e.g. when changing the browser version number or screen resolution). Minor changes in the input values generate a completely different fingerprint hash, making it impossible to find similar ones in the database. On the other hand, omitting these unstable values when creating a hash, significantly limits the ability of the fingerprint to distinguish between devices. This weak point is commonly exploited by fraudsters who knowingly evade this form of protection by deliberately changing the value of device parameters. The paper presents methods that significantly limit this type of activity. New algorithms for coding and comparing fingerprints are presented, in which the values of parameters with low stability and low entropy are especially taken into account. The fingerprint generation methods are based on popular Minhash, the LSH, and autoencoder methods. The effectiveness of coding and comparing each of the presented methods was also examined in comparison with the currently used hash generation method. Authentic data of the devices and browsers of users visiting 186 different websites were collected for the research.

Browser Fingerprint Coding Methods Increasing the Effectiveness of User Identification in the Web Traffic

Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Web-based browser fingerprint (or device fingerprint) is a tool used to identify and track user activity in web traffic. It is also used to identify computers...

Browser Fingerprint Coding Methods Increasing the Effectiveness of User Identification in the Web Traffic

Published Online: Jun 15, 2020

Page range: 243 - 253

Received: Oct 14, 2019

Accepted: Apr 29, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jaiscr-2020-0016

Keywords
browser fingerprint, device fingerprint, LSH algorithm, autoencoder

© 2020 Marcin Gabryel et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Browser Fingerprint Coding Methods Increasing the Effectiveness of User Identification in the Web Traffic

Published Online: Jun 15, 2020

Page range: 243 - 253

Received: Oct 14, 2019

Accepted: Apr 29, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jaiscr-2020-0016

Keywordsbrowser fingerprint, device fingerprint, LSH algorithm, autoencoder

© 2020 Marcin Gabryel et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
browser fingerprint, device fingerprint, LSH algorithm, autoencoder