To continue its war on bad extensions, Google is putting a few new precautions in place as a part of its Enhanced Safe Browsing initiative to ensure that users who visit the Chrome Web Store are only getting extensions that benefit them and respect their privacy. Beginning with Chrome 91, a new prompt will appear […]
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How to check for and remove malicious Chrome extensions from your Chromebook
You’ve heard me cover plenty of Chrome extensions that take advantage of you by mining your data. Over the past few years, Google has done its best to reign this in with a ‘Seal of approval’ on the Chrome Web Store (now completely redesigned, by the way), and more. I don’t have to tell you […]
Continue ReadingThese 30 malicious Chrome extensions just showed their true colors, affecting millions
A new campaign of malicious Chrome extensions was just uncovered by a Guardio Labs research report called “Dormant Colors”. It’s a large campaign with 30 extensions and millions of active installations across the globe. You may or may not have installed one of these on your Chrome browser or Chromebook, so check out the list […]
Continue ReadingUninstall these 5 malicious Chrome extensions that know where you live and where you sleep
Despite the fact that we continue to have bad actor Chrome extensions pop up in the Web Store, Google has done a ton to mitigate it over the past year. From adding new requirements for how developers must use your data to adding a seal of approval for anyone who respects that data and doesn’t […]
Continue ReadingNew report implicates domain registrar in massive ring of malicious Chrome Extensions
Another day, another cartload of random Chrome Extensions removed from the Web Store due to malicious activity. Only this time, the extensions may have more in common than meets the eye. Unlike many mass extension removals that share similar types of attacks or multiple extensions that all have the same developer behind them, the latest […]
Continue ReadingChrome Web Store to issue two new badges for extensions that are trustworthy
Bad actor extensions on the Chrome Web Store have run rampant for far too long, promising to utilize user data only for the intended purpose, and then breaking that promise and misusing it for personal gain or malicious intent. Now that Manifest V3 has become the standard though, Google has limited its ability to do […]
Continue Reading3 top Chrome VPN extensions for 2021
A quick search on the Chrome Web Store can give us hundreds of results for VPNs. Some of those services can be as malicious as the sites we’re trying to protect ourselves from when online. It is hard to know which VPN extensions are safe, secure, and easy to use. To help you choose, here […]
Continue ReadingGoogle is coming down on spammy Chrome extensions by requiring devs to enable 2FA
Google has been trying very much to clean up the cesspool that is the Chrome Web Store as of late. In just the past year alone, it’s created a new ‘seal of approval’ for extensions that respect user privacy and data, has introduced new protections against downloading malicious extensions, stopped them from sharing processes to […]
Continue ReadingGoogle, Apple, Microsoft, and Mozilla band together to make extensions safer
This week, W3C announced that it was launching the WebExtensions Community Group (WECG) in collaboration with several of the largest tech corporations. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla are banding together to achieve better standardization of web extensions. This means that extensions for Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox will one day be safer and easier to […]
Continue ReadingChrome wants to make extensions more secure by preventing them from sharing processes
A new Chrome Canary flag first discovered by Chrome Story called Strict Extension Isolation seeks to make your extensions more secure by keeping them from hanging out with each other. Basically, the current state of extensions is that they sometimes share processes in order to prevent large hits to your RAM and to keep the […]
Continue Reading[U: Removed] The Great Pretender – One of Chrome’s most popular extensions may have been compromised
Update 2/4/21: The Great Suspender has been removed from the Chrome Web Store because of claims listed in this article and is being immediately deactivated for all users! Back in the day when Chrome was (more of) a memory hog, Chrome extensions came to the rescue to help make our browsing experience more manageable and […]
Continue ReadingChrome 88 introduces the controversial Manifest v3 which seeks to fix the ‘extensions problem’
I’ve been covering Chrome extensions and their many mishaps for quite a while here now. Each time something crazy happens with a developer stealing user data and such, like the 15 cases of this last month, the four last week that Facebook busted, and even the popular tab suspension tool gone rogue, there’s been talk […]
Continue ReadingFacebook finds four Chrome extensions scraping user data – Sues two developers
Here we go again – Chrome extension developers scraping user data. Maybe we ought to make this a weekly series. We’ve spoken at length about this and I always try to do my best to bring these things to your attention. Over the past month, we’ve had a very popular extension, along with 15 Facebook […]
Continue ReadingMillions of users have had their data stolen by these 15 Chrome extensions – remove them right now!
Malicious extensions in the news again? No way! Well, yes, unfortunately, but you’re probably not at all surprised and you’re certainly not at all happy about it. In February, Google removed over 500 malicious extensions from the Chrome Web Store which were injection ads into millions of Chrome browsing sessions. Back in June, Awake Security […]
Continue ReadingChrome is working on a “Safety Check” for extensions
The Chrome Web Store, sadly, is sort of the Wild Wild West when it comes to safety and security. As much as it pains me to say, Google has done a very poor job of policing the shop that houses more than 200,000 extensions and web apps. Multiple times a year, we hear and report […]
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