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

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

It could harm your productivity and even flood your work with unwanted advertising if you’re unfortunate enough to download a malicious browser extension without realizing it.

This is known as adware. It’s malware (malicious software) designed to bombard you with unwanted adverts.

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

A recent report from a cyber security company revealed that over 4 million of its customers had been attacked by adware hiding in browser extensions over the last couple of years.

And often, people didn’t realize they were under attack.

There’s a darker scenario where these malicious extensions hide actual malware that can infect your computer.

This can lead to stolen sensitive data such as your logins or payment details. And, of course, malware can spread across an entire network.

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

Read reviews and look at ratings. If a browser 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 help with this and look at up-to-date software protection and (fun) security training for your team. Get in touch!