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Chrome extensions are great. They can help you write better, avoid annoying ads, and save you money when you shop, among hundreds of other tasks. However, like Android apps on the Play Store, extensions on the Chrome Web Store aren’t always what they seem. Malware is a huge concern, and you certainly don’t want to compromise your privacy and security when trying to download an ad blocker.
Google seems to know that the quality and security of many Chrome extensions aren’t particularly consistent. That’s why the company has introduced a new system to identify verified extensions and creators. As you browse for extensions to download, you’ll start to notice two new flags on the reputable options, both of which indicate different ways a particular extension and/or its publisher is considered legitimate.
Featured Badges
The Featured badge appears as a blue ribbon icon on some extensions. According to Google, the company awards this badge to extensions that “follow our technical best practices and meet high standards of user experience and design.” The cool thing about this badge is that it indicates that the extension has been manually reviewed by a Chrome team member, not awarded by an algorithm or other program.
These team members look to see if the extension has a clear store page and clearly represents what it does; works well for those who download it; it’s using the latest Chrome APIs; and, in my opinion, most importantly Yes, it respects user privacy.Although Google itself does not the best With a reputation for user privacy, it’s good to see the company at least admit it’s worth making sure extensions don’t blatantly steal your data.
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Established Publisher Badge
When Google believes a publisher has demonstrated that their work complies with its Developer Program Policies and Having verified their identity with Google, the company will grant them the “Established Publisher” badge. You’ll see this badge as a checkmark next to the publisher’s website. This badge provides another great way for users to trust extensions they are interested in installing, as it means Google knows who they are. If a developer tries anything interesting, their account will probably toast.
What else can you do to keep Chrome extensions safe?
Even with these two new badges, you should continue to apply best practices before downloading the extension to your browser:
- Read the description in full So you know exactly what you’re downloading and what it promises to do.
- View all permissions requested by the extension. If you don’t think there’s any reason for an extension to ask for access to your camera, that’s a big red flag.
- View on developer site, always noted on the extension’s store page. If you get an odd vibe from the site, or it doesn’t seem to match the promise of the extension you’re considering, trust your gut and leave it alone.
- Don’t forget to check out the comments. If a customer has had an unpleasant experience with the extension, they may report it in the comments. On the other hand, if most of the reviews are pretty old and you can’t find any recent reviews, you might want to stay away. Make sure the extensions you download are kept up to date to reduce their chances of being hacked.
