Craving a cookie? It's the perfect day to celebrate, as today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

But the ones we're talking about are the ones that "pop up" on nearly every website prompting you to accept their cookies, which begs the question, what are cyber cookies?

Accepting cyber cookies helps remember your site preferences for a personalized web browsing experience, making the world wide web that much more convenient for its users. If you often visit the same websites, accepting cookies helps personalize and optimize your experience; even keeping you signed in if you accidentally close your browser window.

Internet cookies are very popular, and we see them everywhere; but should we be clicking “accept cookies” when prompted? Users should be aware of what a trustworthy site is and avoid accepting cookies from websites that haven’t been certified as a trusted website.

A trusted site is one that has gotten what is known as an SSL Certificate, which acts as the website’s public key and validates its identity and information to be a valid site. Beyond that, web users should be sure to check the URL to make sure that it is spelled correctly and that it includes HTTPS as it acts as the protocol for sending data between your web browser and the websites you visit. As such, there are many ways to make sure that you are surfing a trusted site!

Now, I’ve never been known to turn down a cookie, but even the biggest dessert lovers need to understand that it’s OK to say no! Web users should be aware of the dangers of internet cookies and know when to decline them. You may be asking, "how can a cookie be dangerous?". Let us tell you more!

Malicious websites include tracking elements in their cookies that are invisible to users, that allow cybercriminals access to your online activity. Bad actors use that information to target users with custom-tailored malicious content like phishing emails or drive-by downloads which download malicious software onto computers.

Cyber cookies can be harmless, or they can be malicious, so how do you accept internet cookies safely? There are several steps that you can take to help avoid and minimize the dangers such as:

• Being cautious when exchanging personal information as cookies have the possibility to communicate such sensitive information.
• Deactivating the storage of cookies in your browser, which reduces the amount of data exchanges.
• Changing your browser’s privacy settings and avoiding storing passwords in the browser.
• Utilizing browser add-ons and anti-malware to disable third-party software to keep your browsing data private.

Most of all, it’s important to keep in mind that just as you don’t want to get scared away from sweets, like cookies, there are many ways to consume them safely. The same is true with the cookies that are out there online.

All it takes, often times, is having a great recipe to get what you want while, at the same time, staying safe, and keeping a cybercriminal from getting into the proverbial cookie jar to fill up their bank account by stealing your personal information. Have a great day and enjoy those chocolate chip cookies!