Your Business Could be Mistakenly using Malicious Browser Extensions

There are hundreds of thousands of browser extensions designed to help us to save time, be more productive, and personalize our online experience.

And while the majority of them do what they’re supposed to, some are not designed to help you at all…

And if you’re unfortunate enough to download a malicious browser extension without realizing, it definitely harms your productivity and even flood your work with unwanted advertising.

This is known as adware. It’s a form of malware (which is malicious software) that’s designed to bombard you with unwanted advertisements.

It can also change your search engine and send you to affiliate pages when you’re making purchases. These activities generate revenue for the extension’s creators.

In a recent report from a cyber security company, more than 4 million of its customers have been attacked by adware hiding in browser extensions just over the last couple of years alone.

And often people haven’t even realize they under attack.

There’s a darker scenario where these malicious extensions are hiding actual malware which can infect your computer.

This can lead to sensitive data such as your logins or even payment details being stolen. And malware can also spread across an entire network, affecting all your employees work.

So what can you do to prevent this from happening in the first place?

To help keep your business and its data safe from the risk of malicious browser extensions, it’s important you only ever download them from reliable and trusted sources.

Read some of the reviews and look at ratings. If a browser seems too good to be true it most likely is.

As the business owner, you might want to look into controlling which extensions can be installed by your team. That way, there will be less accidents involving a malicious browser extensions.

We can help with this, as well as looking at up-to-date software protection and (fun) security training for your team. Just get in touch with us at Itechra.

Published with permission from Your Tech Updates.