How does affiliate networks tracking work?

[regjoe]

This might seem a basic question for advanced/experienced affiliates but as a newbie I would like to know how do affiliate networks track (Cookie, pixel?) actions, traffic and conversions? Also how accurate is their tracking based on the technology used? How do they track which traffic source is being used by affiliate (email, pops, native, display, social)? If I use a traffic source say email and it's not allowed for the campaign, how will they know that I used email traffic?

Also how long is the cookie duration usual of affiliate networks and what attribution model they work on (first click, last click)?

I would really appreciate thoughts from experienced affiliates (Luke, servandosilva, Nick).