Forum Discussion
Clearing Browsing Data on Close
I've configured the group policy settings to clear Browsing Data on Close but it's not granular enough for me. I'd like to be able to clear all Browsing Data except browsing and download history.
Is it possible to get that change ?
Regards.
Michel
My concern wasn't that I couldn't delete browsing data - as you say it can be configured to delete on close-down. I was concerned whether that browsing data was being securely deleted, and if so, to what standard.
I understand your concern but my own concern is to create a policy setting to delete browsing data on exit while preserving browsing history.
The goal is to remove potentially malicious files at browser exit.- Eric_Lawrence
Microsoft
Paul_H_UK I think you're asking whether browsing data is obliterated (rendered unrecoverable against forensic tools). As far as I know, the answer is no. Depending on your threat model, use of full disk encryption (e.g. BitLocker) may be useful to you.
Obliterating browsing data is difficult in the modern world of SSDs, where there's no guarantee that overwriting a particular piece of data will actually write in the same location on the underlying storage. Obliteration requires overwriting ALL available storage on the disk (which causes wear issues) and still is not guaranteed to be effective.
You are correct re your assumption and when I next replace our office PCs encryption will be my way to go. In the meantime, was hoping that there would be at least some level of secure deletion but it seems that that is not the case.
All our PC's have CCleaner Pro running on them which alleviates the problem somewhat - it just seems odd to me that in this day and age of "privacy" that not even basic secure deletion is available through browsers.
I hadn't thought about the SSD issue as none of our machines use them; I was going to put one in a Dell laptop that needs a new hard drive so that is something to think about.
