Some of the most innocuous Chrome extensions do far more than they promise, and new research shows how easily everyday tools can become privacy risks.
Security researchers warn that even simple extensions that offer new tabs, parental controls or cleaner search results have been caught silently spying on users, hijacking clipboards and impersonating trusted brands while in Google Chrome’s official web store.
When helpful Chrome extensions turn hostile
According to a detailed analysis by Symantec researchers, several extensions with more than 100,000 users were found to behave well beyond their stated purpose.
An example, mentioned Good tabpresents itself as a customizable new tab extension with weather and news. Behind the scenes, it quietly gives a remote website permission to read and write anything copied to a user’s clipboard without clearly telling them. This means that passwords or cryptocurrency wallet addresses could be hijacked without users knowing.
One worrying case highlighted in the investigation concerns total impersonation. An extension called DPS Websafe claimed to provide ad-free search results, but instead hijacked search queries and tracked users’ activities.
To build trust, the branding and iconography were copied from Adblock Plus, a well-known and legitimate tool. Once installed, it silently redirected searches through its own servers, opening the door to tracking, monetization, and possible manipulation of results.
Someone else called Child protection marketed itself as a parental control tool. However, it has been found capable of collecting browser cookies for session hijacking and remote code execution transmitted from external servers. Such behavior is usually associated with malware rather than family security software.
Meanwhile, another browser extension was launched Stock Informer Presents itself as a simple market and currency tracking tool, but researchers found that it quietly hijacks users’ searches and redirects them through monetization services without clear disclosure.
The extension also contains a serious security flaw that could allow attackers to execute code in the browser, turning a simple stock tracker into a real privacy risk. These findings also reflect previous cases in which popular Chrome add-ons like Honey came under scrutiny for their deceptive practices.
According to the researchers, the most disturbing thing is that all of these extensions went through Google’s review process and were available on the Chrome Web Store. While some have since been removed, others remained accessible at the time of writing.
Takeaway is simple but inconvenient. Just because an extension looks useful or verified doesn’t mean it’s safe. Therefore, users should think twice before installing extensions and giving up access to their browser and data.
