When you do online banking and visit a web page, your browser extensions see your activity. They see your bank balances, banking transactions, and banking passwords. In addition to it, they have access to many other things in your browser, including credit card details, passwords, private messages, and of course, the web pages you visit. 

A browser extension can see everything on your browser

We want to ask you a question first. Do you notice the message that appears when you install a browser extension under Google Chrome? Most of the extensions contain a message explaining about Read and change all your data on the websites you visit. 

This message means that the extension you want to install will have access to websites that you visit through your browser. After installing an extension, when you visit a website, the site content and what activity you do on the site are seen by the extension. An extension can also make additional changes to web pages by adding extra ads. And if it is malicious, it collects all your private data, including browsing activity, emails & passwords, and financial data. It then uploads it on a remote server on the web. 

Moreover, when you visit a website for net banking and fill in login details like emails and passwords, your browser extension can see what you do in your bank account. 

Every extension doesn’t see your bank account

Every browser extension doesn’t watch your bank account. You should know that a permission system is available in the internet browser such as Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Firefox. Many browser extensions only follow a few permissions. For instance, they will only work when you tap the extension button. That means that they don’t see anything from a web page until you hit the button. Also, they may not work with all websites. For instance, if an extension impacts Gmail, it may only work with Google services rather than working with other sites. 

Moreover, Chrome and Edge allow you to stop an extension from tracking your web activity through permissions. You can decide when you want to run it on a website. 

Should you consider it as a real risk?  

We have clearly said that almost every browser extension can view your bank account details, or they can access all the things that you browse on the web. However, if you find an extension reliable and authentic, it is good. A trustworthy browser extension can act more honestly compared to others. But an unreliable extension can do what it wants to do.   

Use extensions only from trustworthy developers

Avoid using browser extensions that aren’t developed by reliable developers. If you trust a developer, you can go with their extensions. Let’s understand it with an example. If you have installed a password manager and already know about the creator or organization, there is no problem using their password manager extension. If you aren’t sure about an organization or developer, you shouldn’t use their extensions to manage your passwords.

What will you do when an extension is offering some advanced features compared to others, but it is new for you or you don’t have ever heard about the developer? Then, in that case, you should skip that extension.

Source: https://web3root.com/web-browser-extensions-are-looking-at-your-bank-account/