A digital forensics expert has warned that consumers can do more to prevent cyber criminals from targeting them on Cyber Monday, ahead of a new theatre production by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire .

Richard Hale, Senior Lecturer in Digital Forensics at Birmingham City University, highlighted web cookies as a common weakness exploited by criminals and security analysts alike.

Hale is a former Senior Digital Forensic Investigator and Laboratory Manager with significant experience of working with law enforcement and government agencies. He said:

“We become bombarded with offers seemingly directly related to items we’ve been thinking about getting. Thanks to the ease of online shopping, we are spending more online than we do in the high street - but unlike the high street, the internet knows what you want.

"Thanks to a small piece of data called a ‘cookie’, we leave digital footprints all over the web. This type of data collection has one sole purpose for online retailers; to help sell you more products, although they would argue it is to enhance your user experience.

“When you first open a website, a cookie or multiple cookies are generated, containing a variety of information. This can include the country (or even the city) that you are in and the type of operating system you are using.

“If a user returns to that website at a later date, the web browser returns that previously captured data to the web server in the form of a cookie. Simply put, this is how when you visit certain sites, it remembers preferences, or even the ‘last item you searched for’.

“Cookies can also be used in a criminal context, exactly as genuine websites do. Simple digital hygiene, such as frequently clearing cookies or using a private browser, eg incognito mode as found in the Chrome browser, help to minimise your digital footprints."

The expert spoke ahead of a new theatre production, The Haystack, written by award-winning playwright Al Blyth and directed by actor-director Gari Jones. Produced by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, five performances will take place at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham in early December.

Featuring two RBC Acting students in the lead roles, the explosive espionage drama - described as a ‘pacy, brainy surveillance thriller’ by The Guardian following is premiere last year - explores the world's data and infinite powers of electronic intrusion, and how we can live freely when advances in technology outpace the law.

The Haystack is at The Crescent Theatre Birmingham, between 1st and 4th December 2021.