CHIPS Authentication

Google has started deprecating 3rd party cookies for some of their Chrome users, and may eventually do so for all users. This article outlines why Google is making this change, impact of 3rd party cookie deprecation, and what Click has done to address it.

Why Deprecate 3rd Party Cookies?

Google is deprecating 3rd party cookies to improve security for Chrome users. Specifically, blocking 3rd party cookies prevents cross-site tracking, which is when one website is able to access web tracking data from cookies created by another website. This is possible when cookies from different sites are stored in the same "cookie jar" (i.e. partition). When Google blocks 3rd party cookies, each website is given its own separate cookie jar/partition within your browser - this prevents any given website from accessing another website's cookies.

What Is The Impact?

If 3rd party cookies are deprecated/blocked, when in Marketing Automation the Click user will see an authentication error when opening Designers, Editors, and other Click-hosted pages and frames.

The user-level workaround for this is to navigate to Google Settings > Privacy and Security and enable "allow third-party cookies" - however, this workaround must be applied individually for each user, and there is no guarantee that this option will remain in Chrome, so it is not ideal.

Solution: CHIPS Authentication

To address that at the account level, Click has developed a CHIPS Authentication feature. CHIPS stands for Cookies Having Independent Partitioned State - it allows our service to opt cookies into partitioned storage, with separate cookie jars per top-level site, improving user privacy and security while resolving the issues outlined at the beginning of this article.

Customers on Click Version 2024.08 or later can request that we enable CHIPS authentication for their account. If you would like to have CHIPS Authentication enabled for your account please reach out to your Success Manager or open a ticket with Click Support.