Are Google Chrome Extensions Safe?

After reading this, it may seem like nothing good can come from installing Chrome extensions; however, that’s not always the case. While you should do your homework and exercise some healthy skepticism before installing extensions, there are many extensions that are perfectly safe to use. To keep yourself safe before installing an extension, you should verify the developer’s credibility. You can do this by checking the product description and looking for things that suggest they might share your data or track browsing activity. You should also check out their website and never install extensions from unknown developers.

Although reading user reviews isn’t a foolproof way to avoid malicious extensions, as we learned from the “PDF Toolbox” example above, they can be a valuable tool for vetting extensions before you install them. If users have had a negative experience with an extension, they’ll often write a review to warn others. If you notice that the extension you’re thinking about downloading has several negative reviews or mention anything about it using data in inappropriate ways, it’s best not to download it. Instead, you should search for a similar extension with better ratings.

You should also pay close attention to the permissions an app requests. If they seem excessive or irrelevant to how the app functions, that could be a sign of potential misuse. For example, if an extension for managing bookmarks requests access to all of your browsing data, that’s a red flag.