Browser fingerprint test for your device
A finance fraud check can read your browser’s device fingerprint during sign-up, login or payment. This free test displays its canvas, audio, graphics card, fonts and screen, and sends nothing anywhere.
Your fingerprint
The ID combines the hashes of the details in the table. The same browser gives the same ID on any site that reads those same details, with no cookie or sign-in needed.
Everything is read in this browser, and nothing is sent to the site or stored anywhere.
Canvas image
Every browser gets the same drawing. The graphics card, its driver and the system’s font rendering change a few pixels, so the image hash can distinguish devices.
Browser details
| Detail | Browser value | Hash |
|---|
How fraud teams use each detail
| Detail | Fraud team use |
|---|---|
| Canvas | The same canvas hash across many accounts or applications points to one device behind them. A canvas that changes on each reading points to a browser that adds noise, which ordinary browsers rarely do. |
| Audio | The audio sum changes with the audio stack, processor and browser. Fraud teams read it with the canvas to distinguish devices the canvas alone does not. |
| WebGL | Fraud teams check the graphics card’s name against the rest of the device. A software renderer in place of a real graphics card is common on virtual machines and automated browsers. |
| Fonts | Installed fonts differ between machines and system languages, so they add to the fingerprint. A font list that does not fit the stated system can prompt a closer look. |
| Screen | Fraud teams check screen size against the user agent. A phone that reports a desktop screen, or a window size typical of automated browsers, can prompt a closer look. |
| Time zone | Fraud teams compare the time zone with the country on the application and the IP address. A time zone far from both is a reason to look again. |
| Languages | Fraud teams compare the languages with the country on the application. A browser set up for a language that fits neither the customer nor the IP address is read with the other details. |
| Hardware | Processor cores and memory can distinguish devices that look alike in other details. Values that do not fit the stated device can prompt a closer look. |
| Touch | A phone user agent with no touch points, or a desktop with many, can prompt a closer look at what the browser says about the device. |
| User agent | The user agent says which browser and system the device claims to be. Fraud teams check every other detail against that claim. |
What a fingerprint tells you
A fingerprint does not name a person and is not unique, because devices of one model with the same settings can give the same fingerprint. It is one input alongside the email address, the IP address and the rest of the application, and on its own it says nothing about fraud.
Browsers that block or randomise details change the fingerprint, and that change is read too. The same device can give another fingerprint in another browser, so fraud checks read devices rather than people.
A sign-up, application or payment decision can read this device fingerprint alongside the email address and IP address when it is made. Start free
What is a browser fingerprint
A browser fingerprint combines details a browser gives a site, including its canvas image, audio result, graphics card, fonts, screen, time zone and languages. This tool combines the hashes of those details into one fingerprint ID.
Fraud teams compare a device fingerprint across accounts, applications and payments, and check whether its details fit the rest of an application. Use this test to see what a check can read from your own browser.
Common questions
What is a browser fingerprint?
A browser fingerprint combines details a browser gives a site, such as its canvas image, audio result, fonts and screen. This tool combines hashes of the details into one fingerprint ID.
How does canvas fingerprinting work?
A page draws the same text, emoji and coloured shapes on a canvas, then reads back the pixels and hashes them. Differences in graphics cards, drivers and font rendering can change a few pixels.
What is an audio fingerprint?
An audio fingerprint comes from rendering a fixed tone silently and adding up its samples. The sum can differ between audio stacks, processors and browsers.
Can a browser fingerprint identify a person?
A fingerprint does not name a person and is not unique. Devices of one model with the same settings can give the same fingerprint.
How do fraud teams use device fingerprinting?
Fraud teams can look for the same fingerprint across accounts, applications or payments, which points to one device behind them. They also compare browser details with the rest of the application, and a mismatch is a reason to look again.