64% of Website Scripts Are Harvesting Your Data Without Permission

The Scale of Unjustified Data Access

A new study analyzing 4,700 leading websites has found that 64% of third party applications access sensitive user data without legitimate business justification. That figure is up from 51% last year, representing a 25% year over year spike that researchers describe as a widening governance gap.

The 12 month study by security firm Reflectiz defines "unjustified access" as scripts that access data unnecessary for their function, remain inactive for 90 or more days, deploy via tag managers without oversight, or use full DOM access for broad data scraping.

Google Tag Manager Leads the Offenders

The research identified specific tools driving the most unjustified data collection:

• Google Tag Manager: 8% of all unjustified violations
• Shopify: 5% of unjustified access incidents
• Facebook Pixel: 4% of analyzed deployments over permissioned, with 53.2% ubiquity across the web

These tools are not inherently malicious, but their implementation often grants them access to data they do not need. Marketing departments, which the study found drive 43% of all third party risk exposure, frequently deploy these scripts without security team oversight.

Government and Education Sites Hit Hardest

The data reveals alarming trends in specific sectors. Government websites saw malicious activity spike from 2% to 12.9%, more than a six fold increase. Education sector compromise signs quadrupled to 14.3%, meaning one in seven education sites now show active compromise indicators.

The insurance sector was the only bright spot, reducing malicious activity by 60% to just 1.3%. Researchers attribute this to increased regulatory pressure and dedicated security investments in the financial services space.

Technical Indicators of Compromise

The study identified patterns that distinguish compromised sites from secure ones:

• Recently registered domains appear 3.8 times more often on compromised sites
• Compromised sites connect to an average of 100 external domains versus 36 for clean sites
• 63% of compromised sites mix HTTPS and HTTP protocols, creating security gaps
• 47% of applications in payment frames lack business justification

The Security Leadership Disconnect

Perhaps most concerning is the gap between awareness and action. The study surveyed over 120 security leaders from healthcare, finance, and retail sectors. While 81% said web attacks are a top priority, only 39% have deployed solutions to address third party data access risks.

The barriers cited include budget constraints at 34% and staffing shortages at 31%. Meanwhile, 58% of organizations lack proper third party defenses entirely.

What You Can Do

For individual users, the findings reinforce the importance of browser privacy extensions that block third party trackers. For organizations, the researchers recommend:

• Audit and inventory all trackers with documented business justification
• Deploy automated monitoring for sensitive field access
• Address the marketing and IT governance divide through joint security reviews
• Remove scripts that have been inactive for 90 or more days

The study makes clear that third party scripts have become a primary vector for both intentional tracking and unintentional data exposure. With two thirds of web applications now accessing data beyond their legitimate needs, the default assumption should be that any script on a webpage is collecting more than it should.