Check If Your Next Chrome Extension Is Safe on This Website
When it comes to security, Chrome extensions are the wild west. Many of them ask for wide permissions, and if you choose the wrong one, you end up sharing a lot more personal data with a mysterious internet stranger than you probably thought.
There is now a new way to check the extensions you are about to download to calm yourself. CRXcavator , a web-based tool from security company Duo Labs, analyzes Chrome extensions and provides a security report based on the results of an ongoing review of the Chrome Web Store.
According to a January survey conducted by Duo Labs on the Chrome Web Store, which tested 120,463 Chrome apps and extensions, nearly 85 percent of extensions have no privacy policy, 35 percent can read your data on any website, and almost 32 percent … – almost the third – contains known security vulnerabilities.
According to his blog , Duo Labs reports are based on more than just the January survey. The company automated its analysis by scanning the Chrome Web Store and updating the results every three hours.
To get this information, all you have to do is enter the name of the extension you want to check in the CRXcavator search bar. The report details all Duo Labs findings in great detail and assigns a safety score to each extension. If you don’t like what you see, the report offers a list of related extensions and links to their reports so you can find a safer alternative.
Even if it doesn’t change your behavior in the least, it’s interesting (and scary) to better understand the security implications of using extensions.