For example, if you’re installing an extension for Facebook that was published by some random guy, you may want to look a bit closer at what it’s doing. In short, you want to make sure it’s a legitimate extension. The first thing to look at before installing a new extension is the developer. In other situations, a developer can build a useful extension that generates no revenue, then turn around and sell it to another company that fills it with ads and other tracking tools to turn some profit. To make things worse, even trustworthy extensions can become compromised, transforming them into malicious extensions that harvest your data-most likely without you even realizing what’s happening. In other words, if you’re not actually paying attention to the permissions you allow extensions to have, then they might as well not even exist. There is a permission system in place to help prevent this, but a system like this is only as good as the people who are using it. RELATED: Browser Extensions Are a Privacy Nightmare: Stop Using So Many of Them
You’re allowing the extension to live in your browser, potentially watching everything you do. We’re not suggesting that they all do this-but the ability is there. When you install a Chrome extension, you’re essentially entering into a trust-based relationship with the creator of that extension.
Here’s how to make sure an extension is safe before installing it. The problem is that these extensions can also steal data, watch your every move, or worse. Much of Chrome’s power and flexibility comes from its huge ecosystem of extensions.