Internet browsers including Google Chrome have an endless amount of extensions that contain annoying ads and pop-up windows. These often lead to malware, scam, or some sort of fraud, but thankfully, Google Chrome will now warn you about all such extensions from now on.
The software giant is testing a new feature that will notify you if a browser extension has been removed from the Chrome Web Store, which usually indicates the presence of malware.
These sorts of extensions are often made by scammers or threat actors looking to steal private information, or in worse cases, take control of your devices to cause even more harm. This is usually done by injecting advertisements, redirecting you to affiliate pages, tracking your search history, and more.
It becomes a cause for concern because these malware extensions are spread almost as quickly as Google removes them. Even if Google marks them as malware and removes it from the Chrome Web Store, they still stay in your browser, which is where the company’s new Safety Check feature comes in.
Try It Early
Safety Check for extensions is set to go live with Chrome update 117 but it is already available for public testing with Chrome 116. It can be found under the browser’s experimental ‘Extensions Module in Safety Check’ feature.
You can activate it by heading over to Chrome’s Flags page by entering this URL ‘chrome://flags/#safety-check-extensions’ into the address bar. Over here, simply enable the ‘Extensions Module in Safety Check’ as mentioned above. Note that you will have to restart your browser in order for this change to take effect.
Via: Bleeping ComputerÂ
