Cookies are small text files which are saved to your computer, tablet or mobile phone/device through your web browser when you access websites and can be accessed by the web server or the client's computer. This allows the server to deliver content tailored to a particular user as well as remember preferences and even keep track of items in a user’s shopping cart.
The purpose of cookies is to make your interaction with a website smoother with no additional effort required by the user.
The time of expiry of a cookie can be set when the cookie is created. By default the cookie is destroyed when the current browser window is closed, but it can be made to persist for an arbitrary length of time after that.
A session cookie for a website only exists whilst the user is reading or navigating the website. When the user closes their web browser these cookies are usually removed.
A persistent cookie for a website exists on a user’s computer until a future date. For example, the cookie expiry date could be set as one year and each time a website is accessed over this period the website could access the cookie.
A HttpOnly cookie can only be used via HTTP or HTTPS, and therefore cannot be accessed by javascript. This reduces threat of session cookie theft via cross site scripting (XSS).
A secure cookie can only be used via HTTPS. This ensures the cookie data is encrypted, reducing the expose to cookie theft via eavesdropping.
First-party cookies are cookies set with the same domain (or its subdomain) as your browser's address bar. First-party cookies are only set or retrieved by the website while you are visiting it, so they cannot normally be used to track activity or pass data from one site to another.
Third-party cookies are cookies set with domains different from the one shown on the address bar. The web pages on the first domain may feature content from a third-party domain, e.g. an advert run by www.advertexample.com. Privacy setting options in most modern browsers allow you to block third-party tracking cookies.
This cookie is used to remember a user’s choice about cookies on this website. Where users have previously indicated a preference, that user’s preference will be stored in this cookie.
Google Analytics is a persistent cookie and is used on this website to allow us to analyse how users interact with the website. This allows us to make continuous improvements to ensure we can provide you with a better experience on our website. No personal information is taken. For further information regarding Google Analytics, please refer to: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
By installing this browser plug-in, you can prevent the cookie generated by Google from collecting the data as explained above. https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
You can delete cookies from your computer although this may impact your experience on the website. Please refer to the following documentation on how to delete cookies: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/clear-cookies-installed.html