Research reveals how these simple Chrome extensions are hawking your privacy

Chrome Extensions: The Hidden Risks Lurking in Your Browser

What if the seemingly harmless browser extensions you rely on every day were quietly spying on you? That’s the alarming reality uncovered by recent research into popular Chrome extensions. Tools that promise to enhance your browsing experience—like custom new tabs, parental controls, or ad-free searches—have been caught engaging in far more invasive behavior than users expect.

The Trojan Horse in Your Browser

According to Symantec researchers, several extensions with over 100,000 users were found doing much more than advertised. Take Good Tab, for example. Marketed as a customizable new tab page with weather and news, it secretly grants remote websites permission to read and write everything you copy to your clipboard. That means passwords, cryptocurrency wallet addresses, or sensitive personal information could be silently harvested without your knowledge.

Even more concerning is the case of DPS Websafe, which claimed to offer ad-free search results. Instead, it hijacked searches, tracked user activity, and even copied the branding of Adblock Plus to appear legitimate. Once installed, it rerouted searches through its own servers, opening the door to tracking, monetization, and potential manipulation of results.

The “Parental Control” That Wasn’t

Another extension, Children Protection, marketed itself as a tool for keeping kids safe online. In reality, it was capable of harvesting browser cookies for session hijacking and executing remote code pushed from external servers. This kind of behavior is typically associated with malware, not family safety software.

Stock Informer: A Simple Tool with a Dark Side

Stock Informer, a market and currency tracking tool, also made the list of offenders. While it appears to be a straightforward utility, researchers discovered it quietly hijacks searches and redirects them through monetization services without clear disclosure.,