A magic cookie is a server-sent piece of information that is unreadable by the client, used to track, authenticate, or record information about a client without compromising server security. It can store information about browsing sessions, and is encrypted to remain secure. There are two types of cookies: first-party and third-party. Third-party cookies can be used to track user habits and have led to privacy concerns. Cookies cannot cause direct harm to a computer and can only be read by the server that issued them.
A magic cookie, more commonly known as just a cookie, is information sent by a server to a client. It differs from other forms of data being sent, because the content of the magic cookie is unreadable by the client. The purpose of a magic cookie is to provide a mechanism by which a server can track, authenticate, or otherwise record information about a client on the client’s system without compromising its own security.
Originally, a magical cookie was used to verify the identity of users who accessed specific computer systems. Eventually, they developed a method for web servers to save information about a site’s visitors. An HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) cookie is widely used by many types of websites.
The use of a magic cookie makes many functions possible. Information about a browsing session on a website, such as items added to a shopping cart or links marked as favourites, can be stored in a magical cookie. Furthermore, the cookie is unreadable for the client system and allows the server to keep any proprietary information or method secure.
A magic cookie remains secure because the information it contains is encrypted in one way or another. Anyone can open the file in which a cookie is stored, but the information will appear as long strings of seemingly random characters. The information is encrypted or otherwise obfuscated, so it’s meaningless without a special magic number that only the server knows about and never transmits.
There are two classifications of magic cookies. A first-party cookie is one that comes directly from the website you are visiting. These are cookies that are often used to track a session or to register a username and password. The other type is called third party cookies.
A third-party cookie comes from a website external to the one you are visiting. There are many legitimate uses for a third-party cookie, but they can also be used to track a user’s web viewing habits without their knowledge. The privacy controversy when it comes to third-party cookies has led to the addition of an option in most web browsers to prevent them from being accepted.
A cookie is just information that is located on the hard drive of a computer or other device. It is not capable of running or otherwise causing harmful damage to a computer directly. Except in extremely rare cases of malicious hacking, only the server that issued the cookie is able to open and read the information it contains.
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