README

Enables tracking of users via a favicon tricks in your Laravel project. Even when they are incognito. For educational purposes only.

Installation

• run composer require julesgraus/favicontracker in the root of your laravel 6+ project.
• Publish the config file using php artisan vendor:publish --tag=fit in the root of your laravel project.

Usage

When you've installed the package you will have some extra routes. The /fit route can be used to test the package. It will display a page on which you can start the read and write processes. You can also head to /fit/read and /fit/write yourself to programmatically start these processes. In the Verified tracking procedures section you will see what you need to do to track users. At the moment it does not seem to be possible to start a read action first, and then reliable write a tracking id into the favicons cache without closing the browser. Also a delay must be used to iterate over the tracking routes as it takes some time for the browser to start requesting a favicon.

Verified tracking procedures

These procedures where followed in order to manually verify the tracking technique per browser:

Chrome Mac v89.0.4389.90

• Browser was opened.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in tracking id of 0.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.

Safari Mac v4.0.3 (16610.4.3.1.7)

• Browser was opened
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in tracking id of 0.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.

Firefox Mac (87.0)

• No tracking procedure seems to work.

Edge Mac (89.0.774.63)

• Browser was opened.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in tracking id of 0.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.

Verified tracking procedures:

These procedures where followed in order to manually verify the tracking technique per browser:

Chrome Mac v89.0.4389.90

• Browser was opened.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in tracking id of 0.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.

Safari Mac v4.0.3 (16610.4.3.1.7)

• Browser was opened
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in tracking id of 0.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.

Firefox Mac (87.0)

• No tracking procedure seems to work.

Edge Mac (89.0.774.63)

• Browser was opened.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in tracking id of 0.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Write procedure was started. Resulted in storing a plus zero id.
• Browser was closed completely and started.
• Read procedure was started. Resulted in retrieving the plus zero id.

How to clear the favicon cache

Make sure you close your browser completely first.

Chrome Mac:

Delete ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Favicons and ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Favicons-journal.

Chrome Windows

Delete C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default.

Safari Mac:

Delete everything in ~/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache/ Does not always seem to work immediately (Safari 4.0.3)

Microsoft Edge Mac

Delete ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/Default/Favicons and ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/Default/Favicons-journal.