Unclassified Cookies

Cookies that haven't been properly categorized into standard classifications like necessary, functional, analytics, or marketing cookies, typically discovered through cookie scanning tools but not yet analyzed. Unclassified cookies present compliance risks because organizations cannot obtain proper consent, provide accurate disclosures, or implement appropriate controls without understanding their purpose and classification. Common causes include: new cookies added by third-party services, dynamically-loaded cookies not captured in initial audits, cookies from recently-integrated vendors, or cookies from subprocessors not disclosed by primary vendors. Organizations should: conduct regular cookie scans identifying all cookies, investigate unclassified cookies to determine purposes and responsible parties, properly categorize discovered cookies, update cookie policies and consent mechanisms, and implement change management processes catching new cookies before they're deployed. Under GDPR and ePrivacy Directive, organizations remain responsible for all cookies on their sites, even those placed by third parties. Unclassified cookies indicate incomplete governance and can lead to enforcement actions if they process personal data without proper legal basis.