Cookie theft: how fraudsters get the digital key to your accounts

Cookie warning … one of the best ways to defeat hackers is to get into the habit of always logging out of an account. Photograph: Rawf8/Alamy

You’ve had a busy morning of life admin, logging into various accounts to check balances and make payments. At the end of a productive few hours you close your laptop and move on to your next job.

What you don’t know is that fraudsters have hijacked your session with the bank and are now able to access your account. You are the victim of cookie theft, which belongs to a type of fraud known as “session hijacking”.