Security trap browser plug-in: you need to know
Browser plug-ins are quite useful, but can also be a major security trap: some websites secretly install plug-ins without you noticing. You document your online activities and sell the data.
Beware of browser plug-ins
- Browser plug-ins are almost always free, but how do developers make money from them? For example, by recording browser activity and selling the data.
- It came out some time ago with the plug-in Web of Trust. The data was anonymized so badly that the search history of individual people including their names could be read. Some with spicy details from private life.
- What is new is that many sites also simply install plug-ins in the browsers of unsuspecting users. Actually, plug-ins always have to be confirmed by the user - actually.
- Because as a blogger found out, there are master and slave plug-ins. And they have serious consequences for security.
- This is how it works: If a user has installed a master plug-in, this can secretly install additional plug-ins in the background without request (slave plug-ins).
- These slave plug-ins are usually very dubious, document the web history and sell the data.
Firefox: Check and delete plug-ins
You should check your plug-ins and extensions for security reasons. What you do not need or have installed, it is better to delete:
- In Firefox, click on the menu button with the three dashes in the top right.
- Then select the "Add-ons" tile and you will now see a list of all the installed add-ons.
- Remove everything you don't know and then click on "Plugins" in the left menu.
- Remove all entries here that you did not install or need yourself.
- Tip: The easiest way is to reset your Firefox browser regularly.
Chrome: Remove plug-ins
You should also check Chrome for unpleasant plug-ins:
- Enter the following address in the address bar: chrome: // extensions.
- Now you have to remove all unknown entries.
- Then you have to do this again for apps. You can find them under chrome: // apps.
- Note: Regularly do a spring cleaning with your browser and reset it completely.
Delete extensions in other browsers
Depending on which browser you use, you will find instructions here on how to remove plug-ins.
- Internet Explorer: Delete add-ons
- Safari: uninstall plug-ins - how it works
- Uninstall Cliqz addon - Here's how
- Opera: Remove plug-ins - that's how it's done
- Microsoft Edge: Delete add-ons
Tip: good or bad plug-in?
- In Chrome, you can easily find out what a plug-in reads and whether it taps data.
- To do this, open the address chrome: // extensions and click on "Details" for the plug-in.
- Now you can see under "Permissions" whether data is read.
If you want to surf particularly safely, you should take a look at the BitBox browser. It was specially developed on behalf of the Federal Office for Information Technology.