Usually, the information about the add-on will be featured on the right-hand side of the Chrome window, next to the images of the extension. Make sure you’re aware of how the extension will use your data throughout the experience.ĭo note that some extensions don’t offer information like this in the description. This can include data sharing and tracking information. You should have a good look over the entire thing and identify elements that may be suspicious or questionable. When we say read the description, we mean all of it. If you can’t find a link to any of the two sources, then dig a bit deeper and perform a Google search or try to find the developer on other platforms. There should be a public website or at least a public profile available when you click on their name in the extension window. There are a few ways to perform this research.įirst, you can see whether this is a professional developer or not by visiting their website. You shouldn’t download Chrome extensions without inspecting the developer behind it first. Once you find a program that you like, proceed to the next tips to verify whether it’s trustworthy or not. Still, be careful when downloading an add-on from the Chrome Web Store. You can find creativity tools, password managers, graphic design add-ons, and much more. You can search for more than 200,000 extensions, web apps, themes, and tools to help you get the most out of your browsing experience. For Chrome, the place of trust is the Chrome Web Store. Naturally, the best place to look for such an add-on is on credible stores. There are numerous places where you can get extensions for any browser, and Chrome is no exception. To help you get around malicious extensions, we’ve come up with a list of the top eight tips on how to use Chrome extensions safely. It’s important to beware when adding a new extension on Chrome, but also keep track of the add-on upon installation. To wrap up, browser extensions can be dangerous in numerous ways – or they can become dangerous, depending on the situation. There are numerous cases where developers build a free extension and then sell it to a company that bombards the app with ads and tracking tools for profit. They can be transformed into data harvesters that collect valuable information about your search history, personal information, and maybe even credit card information. This means that if you don’t pay attention to the list of permissions you allow the newly installed extension to have, no system can help you protect your privacy.Įven the most popular and trustworthy extensions can get infected with a virus or become compromised in another way. But systems are only as good as the users. Easier upgrades: When you upgrade your extension, Chrome will not disable it for your users if the upgrade adds optional rather than required permissions.Luckily, Chrome has a permission system to help you prevent this type of action.Better information for users: An extension can explain why it needs a particular permission when the user enables the relevant feature.Better security: Extensions run with fewer permissions since users only enable permissions that are needed.Simpler development: Required permissions are guaranteed to be present.Fewer prompts: An extension can prompt the user once to accept all permissions.Use optional permissions when they are needed for optional features in your extension.Use required permissions when they are needed for your extension's basic functionality.# Implementing optional permissions # Step 1: Decide which permissions are required and which are optionalĪn extension can declare both required and optional permissions. The extension has an additional feature, that users can enable by clicking the following button:ĭisplaying the user's top sites requires the topSites permission, which has the following warning. This feature only requires the storage permission, which does not include a warning. One feature is displaying the user's goal of the day. This way, users can specify how much access they are willing to grant and which features they want to enable.įor example, the optional permissions extension's core functionality is overriding the new tab page. The Permissions API allows developers to explain permission warnings and introduce new features gradually which gives users a risk-free introduction to the extension. Permission warnings exist to describe the capabilities granted by an API, but some of these warnings may not be obvious.
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