Glossary
Account linking
A platform deciding that two accounts belong to the same operator, from storage, device, network or behaviour.
Also called: account association, account correlation.
Account linking is the conclusion, not the technique: a platform has decided two accounts are one operation, and acts on both. The evidence usually falls into four buckets. State — an identifier the site wrote into storage the first time and read back the second. Device — a fingerprint that matches, or a set of values that could only describe one machine. Network — the same exit address, or a pattern of addresses. And behaviour — working hours, writing style, the accounts that get contacted, the order things are done in.
Three of those four are things a browser can separate and the fourth is not, which is the honest shape of what any tool in this category can offer. Argus gives each profile its own directory so nothing is shared on disk, its own coherent device so the machine underneath does not match, and its own proxy so the sessions do not leave from one address. Behaviour is yours to manage — nothing about a browser stops two accounts posting the same thing at the same minute every day.
More from the glossary
Device entropy
How much identifying information a device's reported properties carry — measured in bits, and lowered by looking ordinary rather than by hiding.
TLS fingerprint
An identifier computed from the way a client opens a TLS connection — the cipher suites, extensions and their order in the ClientHello.
Cookie injection
Writing a saved set of cookies into a fresh browser profile so it opens already signed in, without the password being entered.
Headless browser
A real browser engine run without a visible window, usually under automation. Cheap to run at volume, and increasingly easy for a site to spot.
CAPTCHA solving
Passing a challenge to a third-party service that answers it. Useful occasionally, and a poor substitute for not triggering the challenge.
Timezone and geolocation spoofing
Making a browser report a clock — and sometimes a position — that matches where the session claims to be rather than where the machine is.
Every entry is listed on the glossary index.