While many of the thousands upon thousands of browser extensions out there are made to help us save time, get more work done and personalize our online experience, not all give us that. Downloading a malicious browser extension without realizing it can be very harmful. It can affect your productivity and flood your work with annoying and unwanted advertising.
This type of malicious software is called adware and it is specifically designed to bombard you with adverts. Adware will also change your search engine and send you affiliate pages when making purchases, this type of activity is how the extension creators gain revenue.
According to a recent report from a cyber security company, it is estimated that over the last couple of years more than 4 million of its customers have been a victim of adware hiding within their browsers. And because it hides within the browser, people don't realize they are being attacked.
In a worst-case scenario, these malicious extensions are hiding vicious malware that can infect your computer. This can lead to private data, such as logins and payments, being stolen by cybercriminals. Then, of course, there is a chance that it can spread across an entire network. To keep everything safe, make sure you are only downloading from a reliable and trusted source. This will greatly reduce the risk of an attack from browser extensions. Read reviews and look at ratings. If a browser extension seems too good to be true it probably is.
As the business owner, you might also look into controlling which extensions can be installed by your team. We can definitely help you with this, as well as making sure your software protection is up to date and providing security training (we make it FUN) for your team!
Until next time, keep fit and have fun!
While many of the hundreds of thousands of browser extensions out there are safe, there are many that are not. And yada yada yada you don't want to fall victim to adware as it can greatly harm your business.
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