Web Readable User/Browser Forensics

by James Muir, 14 March 2006

Each time you visit a web site, that web site is able to record information about you. This information can be used to uniquely identify you and your computer. Even if you take steps to hide your true IP address, the externally visible characteristics of your computer and browser may suffice to link you with your previous actions. Here we give a few examples, using data collected from your own browser, of what types of information can be collected. This web page is a sort of "mirror" that shows what information you make available to a web site.

Your IP Address

The IP address associated with your HTTP request is 54.158.248.39

This IP address maps to the domain name

HTTP Header and Web Server Variables

Whenever your web browser submits a content request to a web server, it sends along a number of HTTP headers. These are the variables listed below that have names beginning with "HTTP_". The "HTTP_USER_AGENT" variable will indicate the name and version of the browser you are using, as well as your operating system. If your browser submits a cookie to a web site, it will appear in the "HTTP_COOKIE" header (to make a cookie appear below, reload this web page after visiting here).

Array
(
    [USER] => www-data
    [HOME] => /var/www
    [SCRIPT_NAME] => /~jamuir/mirror.php
    [REQUEST_URI] => /~jamuir/mirror.php
    [QUERY_STRING] => 
    [REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
    [SERVER_PROTOCOL] => HTTP/1.1
    [GATEWAY_INTERFACE] => CGI/1.1
    [REMOTE_PORT] => 34888
    [SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /home/jamuir/public_html/mirror.php
    [SERVER_ADMIN] => webmaster@ccsl.carleton.ca
    [CONTEXT_DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /home/jamuir/public_html
    [CONTEXT_PREFIX] => /~jamuir
    [REQUEST_SCHEME] => https
    [DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /var/www/ccsl_website/www/
    [REMOTE_ADDR] => 54.158.248.39
    [SERVER_PORT] => 443
    [SERVER_ADDR] => 134.117.225.9
    [SERVER_NAME] => www.ccsl.carleton.ca
    [SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.4.52 (Ubuntu)
    [SERVER_SIGNATURE] => 
Apache/2.4.52 (Ubuntu) Server at www.ccsl.carleton.ca Port 443
[PATH] => /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin [HTTP_HOST] => www.ccsl.carleton.ca [HTTP_REFERER] => http://www.ccsl.carleton.ca/~jamuir/mirror.php [HTTP_USER_AGENT] => claudebot [HTTP_ACCEPT] => */* [proxy-nokeepalive] => 1 [SSL_TLS_SNI] => www.ccsl.carleton.ca [HTTPS] => on [SCRIPT_URI] => https://www.ccsl.carleton.ca/~jamuir/mirror.php [SCRIPT_URL] => /~jamuir/mirror.php [FCGI_ROLE] => RESPONDER [PHP_SELF] => /~jamuir/mirror.php [REQUEST_TIME_FLOAT] => 1711616886.8613 [REQUEST_TIME] => 1711616886 )

JavaScript Variables

JavaScript allows much more information to be extracted from your computer. If you have JavaScript disabled, then there won't be much to see here. Many sites will not function properly unless you have JavaScript enabled.

The date, time and timezone reported by your browser is

Here are the details of the screen in which your browser is displayed:

Here are the details of the plugins that you have installed:


Below is information on how your browser handles different MIME types: