Details

Incognito mode allows the user to browse the Internet without recording their browsing history/activity. From a forensics perspective, this is unacceptable. Best practice requires that browser history is retained. The ‘IncognitoModeAvailability’ setting controls whether the user may utilize Incognito mode in Google Chrome. If ‘Enabled’ is selected or the policy is left unset, pages may be opened in Incognito mode. If ‘Disabled’ is selected, pages may not be opened in Incognito mode. If ‘Forced’ is selected, pages may be opened ONLY in Incognito mode.

0 = Incognito mode available.

1 = Incognito mode disabled.

2 = Incognito mode forced.

Solution

Windows group policy:
1. Open the group policy editor tool with gpedit.msc
2. Navigate to Policy Path: Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesGoogleGoogle Chrome
Policy Name: Incognito mode availability
Policy State: Enabled
Policy Value: Incognito mode disabled

Supportive Information

The following resource is also helpful.

• https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_Google_Chrome_V2R4_STIG.zip

This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: Audit and Accountability.This control applies to the following type of system Windows.

References

• 800-53|AU-10
• CAT|II
• CCI|CCI-000166
• Rule-ID|SV-221578r615937_rule
• STIG-ID|DTBC-0030
• STIG-Legacy|SV-57611
• STIG-Legacy|V-44777
• Vuln-ID|V-221578

Source

• Tenable.com/audits