Cybersecurity Tips

How to Spot Online Shopping Scams (and What to Do If You Get Tricked) Online shopping has become second nature for most of us. But the convenience also attracts scammers looking to steal payment details, personal information, or even your entire purchase. Government agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) regularly issue reminders that these threats are not going away. The good news is that most scams follow predictable patterns, and knowing what to look for can keep your money and data safe. ...

Your Productivity Chrome Extension Could Be a Backdoor: What to Do Browser extensions promise convenience: a grammar checker, a password manager, a tab organizer, or even a simple screenshot tool. But behind that helpful icon, some extensions hide capabilities far beyond their advertised function. For enterprise users, the risk is especially high — a seemingly harmless extension can become a pipeline into company accounts, data, and networks. ...

Watch Out for Scams and Stay Safe While Online Shopping: Advice from the VA and FDIC Online shopping has become routine for most of us, but it also attracts fraudsters looking to steal money or personal information. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have published multiple warnings about these threats. Whether you’re a veteran, a family member, or just someone who buys things on the internet, understanding the common tactics and how to protect yourself is worth a few minutes of attention. ...

The Hidden Danger of Chrome Extensions: How Your Productivity Tools Could Be Spying on You You probably have a handful of Chrome extensions installed right now. A grammar checker, a password manager, a note-taking tool, an ad blocker. They promise to save time, organize your work, or make browsing smoother. And most of them deliver on that promise—until one of them doesn’t. ...

Is That Chrome Extension Safe? How ‘Productivity Tools’ Can Be Backdoors Browser extensions have become essential for streamlining work, but recent incidents show they are also turning into a favored attack vector. In March 2026, Security Boulevard reported on how seemingly innocent productivity tool extensions were used to infiltrate enterprise networks. Around the same time, the FBI disclosed an investigation into a “sophisticated” hack of its own surveillance system, with links to similar threats. For anyone who uses Chrome extensions — especially in a workplace setting — understanding the risks and knowing how to protect yourself is no longer optional. ...

Is That Productivity Chrome Extension a Security Risk? Here’s How to Check Introduction If you use Chrome regularly, you probably have a handful of extensions installed. A grammar checker, a password manager, a PDF tool, maybe a tab organizer. We install them to save time and work more efficiently. But recent security research has shown that even popular productivity extensions can be turned into backdoors, giving attackers access to your browsing data, credentials, and more. This article explains how that happens, why it matters for everyday users, and—most importantly—what you can do right now to check your own extensions. ...

Is That Productivity Extension Spying on You? How to Spot Malicious Chrome Add-Ons You install a Chrome extension to make your workday smoother—a grammar checker, a note-taking helper, or a simple tab manager. It seems harmless, maybe even recommended by a colleague. But behind the clean interface, that extension could be reading every page you visit, capturing your passwords, or sending your company’s internal data to a remote server. Over the past year, security researchers have documented a surge in backdoored extensions that masquerade as productivity tools while quietly stealing information. ...

That Google Alert Might Be a Scam—Here’s How to Recognize the Fake If you use Gmail, Google Drive, or Google Ads, chances are you’ve seen a notification pop up warning about “unusual activity” or telling you your account will be suspended unless you act immediately. A new wave of phishing emails and pop-ups is impersonating these legitimate Google alerts—and they look convincing enough to fool even careful users. ...

Chrome Extension Warning: How Productivity Tools Can Become Attack Vectors If you use Chrome at work or at home, you probably have a handful of extensions installed. A grammar checker, a tab manager, a password tool. They make daily tasks faster. But over the past year, a growing number of these seemingly harmless add-ons have turned into entry points for attackers. ...

8.3 Billion Phishing Attacks in Q1 2026: What Microsoft’s Report Means for Your Inbox Every few months, Microsoft publishes a look at the threat data it sees across its email services. The latest report for the first quarter of 2026 contains a headline figure that is hard to ignore: more than 8.3 billion phishing threats were detected in that three-month period. That is roughly 90 million phishing attempts per day. ...