What is the AnalyticsSyncHistory cookie?
Stores the timestamp of when the user's browser was synchronized with LinkedIn's analytics tracking cookie to facilitate cross-site tracking.
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About AnalyticsSyncHistory
| Vendor | |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | linkedin.com |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Social Media |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Targeting & Advertising |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 14.1% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 30 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | High |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy |
| Vendor Website | https://www.linkedin.com |
What is the purpose of AnalyticsSyncHistory?
The AnalyticsSyncHistory cookie is a third-party tracking cookie deployed by LinkedIn (part of Microsoft since 2016) through its embedded Insight Tag and LinkedIn Ads network integrations. It is explicitly utilized to store the exact timestamp of when the user's browser was synchronized with the lms_analytics cookie, which identifies LinkedIn members across non-LinkedIn websites.
By keeping a history of this synchronization, LinkedIn can efficiently manage how frequently it exchanges tracking data for users in designated regions. This mechanism prevents redundant server requests while ensuring that the analytical and behavioral data used for conversion tracking, audience profiling, and ad retargeting remains current and accurate across sessions.
What are the Privacy Risks of AnalyticsSyncHistory?
Risk Level: High
This cookie poses a high risk because it is an integral component of LinkedIn's broader advertising and cross-site tracking framework. Although the cookie itself merely stores a synchronization timestamp, it operates directly in tandem with lms_analytics and other persistent identifiers to stitch together a user's browsing history across independent websites. This continuous data collection allows a major third-party social network to build detailed behavioral profiles and execute targeted advertising without the user needing to interact with the actual LinkedIn platform.
How to Remove AnalyticsSyncHistory from a Website
To remove the AnalyticsSyncHistory cookie, website administrators must completely uninstall the LinkedIn Insight Tag or LinkedIn Ads tracking scripts from their website. This requires deleting the provided LinkedIn JavaScript snippet from the site's source code or removing the associated tags within a tag management system such as Google Tag Manager. Because this cookie is an essential operational element for how LinkedIn synchronizes tracking data across the web, there is no vendor-provided configuration setting to disable this specific cookie while keeping the broader tracking functionality active. If the LinkedIn tracking tags remain deployed on the page, the cookie will automatically be set.