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Is Your Chrome Extension a Backdoor? How to Spot and Stop Malicious Add-Ons Introduction If you use Chrome or Edge—and most of us do—you’ve probably installed a handful of extensions to block ads, manage passwords, or improve your workflow. But in recent months, security researchers have sounded a clear alarm: attackers are increasingly targeting these seemingly harmless add-ons to break into corporate networks and steal personal data. ...

How to Avoid Mother’s Day Shopping Scams: BBB Alert and Safety Tips With Mother’s Day just days away, many of us are still hunting for the perfect gift online. Scammers know this, and the Better Business Bureau has issued a fresh alert warning shoppers about a spike in cons targeting last-minute buyers. The alert, reported this week by the Daily Herald, highlights fake storefronts, phishing emails, and social media ads that look like legitimate deals but are designed to steal your money or personal information. Here is what you need to know to shop safely. ...

Chrome Just Quietly Deleted Its Privacy Promise for On-Device AI — Here’s What to Do Google has removed a long-standing privacy promise from Chrome that assured users on-device AI features would not send data to its servers. The change, first reported by Decrypt on May 7, 2026, happened without a public announcement or clear notification to users. If you use Chrome’s built-in AI tools—such as smart reply, tab organization, or image description generation—this shift could affect how your data is handled. ...

Is That Chrome Extension Safe? How Productivity Tools Get Turned Into Backdoors If you use Chrome for work or personal tasks, you’ve probably installed a few extensions to block ads, manage passwords, or take notes. They feel harmless—just a helpful add‑on. But in recent months, security researchers have documented a rising threat: otherwise legitimate extensions being hijacked to steal data, plant malware, or open a backdoor into a network. The risk isn’t theoretical, and it affects everyone from individual users to large enterprises. ...

Chrome Quietly Deleted a Key Privacy Promise — Here’s Why It Matters for You In early May 2026, observant Chrome users and privacy watchdogs noticed something missing from the browser’s settings page. A long-standing privacy guarantee—one that assured users Google would not send personal data to its servers for certain features—had been silently removed. The change, first reported by Decrypt on May 7, correlates with the rollout of new on-device AI capabilities in Chrome. If you rely on Chrome for everyday browsing and care about where your data goes, this shift is worth understanding. ...

The Hidden Danger in Your Browser: How Productivity Extensions Get Backdoored Browser extensions are a staple of modern work. They help you manage passwords, take notes, block ads, and speed up repetitive tasks. But that convenience comes with a hidden risk. Over the past few years, attackers have learned that instead of breaking into a company’s network directly, they can install a backdoor through a Chrome extension that employees already trust. ...

Chrome Quietly Drops Privacy Promise for On-Device AI – How to Protect Yourself Now If you use Google Chrome and have ever noticed a small AI icon when selecting text or searching an image, you’ve been using what Google calls “on-device AI.” For years, the company assured users that these features processed everything locally—no data left your computer. That promise has now been removed from Chrome’s privacy documentation, and the change was not widely announced. ...

Is That Chrome Extension Safe? How ‘Productivity Tools’ Are Becoming Backdoors Chrome extensions are small pieces of software that add features to your browser—ad blockers, grammar checkers, password managers, and countless others. Most are helpful and harmless. But a growing number are designed to steal your data, and they’re getting harder to spot. ...

How to Spot Online Shopping Scams: What Government Alerts Can Teach Us Online shopping has become routine for most of us, but scammers have become just as routine in trying to steal your money and personal information. Government agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), regularly issue warnings about the latest tactics. Their advice is practical, tested against real threats, and often the same across multiple agencies—which means it’s worth paying attention to. ...

Google Removed Chrome’s Privacy Promise for On-Device AI: What to Do Now If you’ve been relying on Chrome’s on-device AI features because they were marketed as privacy-safe, you might want to double-check the fine print. Earlier this week, news broke that Google quietly deleted a key commitment in its documentation — one that explicitly stated on-device AI would not compromise user privacy. The change was first reported by Decrypt on May 7, 2026, and later confirmed by Yahoo Tech. For privacy-conscious users, this raises a straightforward question: what exactly changed, and what should you do about it? ...