clickprint

A term that refers to the Web surfing characteristics of a given person. Based on the number of page views, time spent on each Web page, or the time of day or week a Web page is viewed, an Internet user can be distinguished from other users. The ability to identify one user from another based on their "clickprint" pattern has a significant impact in preventing fraud. For example, if someone has signed in with someone else's credentials, but their clickprint was different, this could indicate their ID has been stolen.

Studies have shown that by monitoring just seven Internet sessions, a user can be distinguished by their unique Web surfing patterns. From these seven sessions, researchers can accurately identify users by their clickprint 86 percent of the time. When researchers increase the number of sessions to 51, they were able to identify users by their clickprint 99 percent of the time. While controversy exists on whether this data collection method invades users' privacy, Amazon.com (as well as numerous credit card companies) track users' every move online with clickprints.