Redwood City, CA, February 20th, 2018 – Avast, the global leader in digital security products, today announced Avast AntiTrack Premium, providing users an easy-to-use solution to control their online identity and privacy. AntiTrack Premium provides transparency and blocks ad tracking, gives users the opportunity to disguise their digital footprint, and allows users to clear their browsing history.
“Traditionally, advertisers use cookies to track users, to better target them with ads, but the techniques used to track and build profiles on users have evolved and now include methods like browser fingerprinting. Browser fingerprinting scripts send information to data collectors, including screen resolution, language, time zone, and a list of plugins which can all be used to uniquely and reliably identify site visitors”, said Ondrej Vlcek, CTO & EVP at Avast.
Recent research conducted by Universities in Lille and Rennes* has shown that nearly 90% of browsers can be uniquely identified using browser fingerprinting. The various and advanced techniques used to track users make it challenging to avoid targeting. Avast AntiTrack helps people manage their online privacy and identity, by giving them control of who can follow them, receive information about them, and also gives users the opportunity to hide their browsing history from trackers through scheduled cleanings.
Avast AntiTrack Premium consists of two parts: a standalone AntiTrack web application, which provides users with an overview of their online privacy status, and browser extensions that plug into their web browsers. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Edge are supported. Through the browser extensions, users can continue using the browser they are most comfortable with, while still enjoying the increased level of privacy.
With Avast AntiTrack Premium, users can easily:
Avast AntiTrack instantly blocks advertisers’ tracking attempts and shows users who attempted to track them.
- Disguise their online profile
PC configuration and browser settings are unique to each user. When people browse the web, they leave a digital footprint, allowing websites to easily identify a user from a crowd of other visitors. AntiTrack Premium disguises users’ digital fingerprints to cloak their identity and prevent advertisers from building an accurate profile.
- Hide their browsing history
A history of every website a user visits is stored in their browser for anyone to see. AntiTrack Premium protects users’ privacy by clearing their history, cookies, and other browser data with a single click. Users can schedule regular, automatic cleanings for all of the browsers they use.
- See their privacy status at a glance
AntiTrack Premium provides users with an overview of their privacy status, so users can see their current privacy score, to show users how well they are protecting their privacy. Additionally, users can view a list of the privacy threats, like tracking and data collection, the app has prevented, and find out how many tracking cookies are hidden in their browsers.
- Browse as usual with no disruptions
Ad blockers can actually disrupt browsing experience by changing website layouts and triggering anti-ad blocker warnings. AntiTrack Premium doesn’t block ads or mess with how websites look. The app simply blocks them from tracking users, so users can experience the web as usual — without broken webpages and annoying “disable your ad blocker to view this page” messages.
Avast AntiTrack Premium is now available for purchase.
