New Chrome Feature Alerts Users About Malicious Extensions

Chrome has released an announcement about its version 117, in which a new feature has been introduced regarding removed extensions from the Chrome web store.

Going forward, Chrome will highlight the extensions that have been removed from the Chrome web store due to various reasons, which include,

• The developer has unpublished the extension
• The extension has been removed due to policy violation or
• The extension has been marked as malware.

“We have designed this change to keep the ecosystem safe for users while limiting the chances that this will impact genuine extensions,” reads the post by Google.

Extensions and Exceptions

In case of an extension that has a policy violation and the developer has been notified about the issue, Chrome will not display any notifications for the extension since the developer will be given time to rectify the issue.

The notification will be cleared from the user’s browser if the issue is resolved. The notification also displays an option to “Review” the extension, which takes the user to the extension. The user can decide whether to hide the warning, keep the extension installed, or remove it. 

These kinds of extensions were automatically removed from Chrome browsers in previous Chrome versions. This feature can be accessed in the “Privacy and Security”.

Previous Chrome version 116 included a search bar and lens shortcut as an additional feature and has fixed several bug fixes reported to them privately.

Google is known to have taken several steps to prevent users of their products from malicious actors and has been marching towards security on every version release on every product.

However, it is also the responsibility of the end-user to be vigilant towards social engineering attacks and phishing attempts. 

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