Here’s a shocker – Your browser extensions are spying on your bank account
While most people consider browser extensions to be completely harmless, guess what? They are not. Browser extensions may look like small pieces of software that you install on your browser for an additional feature, but behind your back, they too are stealing your data.
Data storage and breaches aren’t a small concern or inconvenience. It is a serious and significant issue that requires attention by internet users. Every search engine, browser, and extension over the internet collects some part of your data and uses it to their advantage. This information can include your name, locale, IP address, bank details, etc.
You need to prevent yourself from this data misuse. For this, you need to choose a VPN. A VPN can be an effective way to save your data and identity from leaking. It can encrypt your web traffic, making you virtually anonymous online. That being said, finding a trustworthy VPN is not easy, especially when there are hundreds of confusing choices. To make a planned decision, you can check out the list of recommended VPNs on VPNRanks.
What are browser extensions, and how do they steal your data?
Browser extensions add additional benefits to your web browser. Although these features are pretty useful, they are also dangerous. Browser extensions follow you all over the internet and track all your data and store it. It’s like having another pair of eyes except you that can see all your details.
When you enter your name somewhere, the browser extensions track it. And when you enter your bank details, either during shopping online or while going through your bank’s website, well, browser extensions follow that too.
They can track your account details, the number of transactions you have made, the amount of each transaction, your bank balance, pins and codes, debit/credit card numbers, etc., without you noticing. This should have an alarming effect on you, and such sensitive information should be protected and secured by you at all costs.
Browser extensions mention in their privacy policies what they will and won’t collect from users. The collected information can range from personal information to user activity. This means that the browser extensions collect everything, what you read, what you search, and even the minute details like when and where your mouse’s pointer is located.
Did you know that browser extensions also collect information for personalized ads? It’s true. Browser extensions, just like Google, accumulate and store user information by monitoring their search habits and then displaying ads related to these searches.
Malicious browser extensions are, then again, a significant concern. These browser plugins can easily monitor all the data you enter on various websites and misuse it. They can even collect all the passwords you enter to log into different sites.
A separate tab is present on the page labeled ‘privacy permissions’ when installing a browser extension. From there, you can skim through all the private information that you are permitting the extensions to collect from you. You will be astonished to see what browser extensions tend to collect and what they do not.
Are browser extensions a risk?
Yes. Browser extensions collect some or most of your private data for their advantage. Any personal data breaching application or extension is always a risk to add to your device. Through techniques like browser fingerprinting, your harmless looking web browser can gather a lot of information about you.
It’s not just collecting your data (which is extremely dangerous), but browser extensions also monitor every word you type, like your emails. They can scan all your emails and directories solely because you permit them while getting them on your browser.
Some extensions may also be harmless. Extensions like Adblock or DuckDuckGo have a no-data collection policy. Similarly, some extensions may only collect only small pieces of information from you, which is fine too.
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