Online Safety

Is Your Chrome Extension Spying on You? How Productivity Tools Become Backdoors You probably have a handful of Chrome extensions you rely on daily—a password manager, an ad blocker, a note-taking tool, maybe a grammar checker. They’re small, convenient, and easy to install. But what if one of them was secretly logging your keystrokes, reading your email, or sending your corporate credentials to a third party? It happens more often than you might think. ...

5 things you should never tell your AI chatbot (to protect your money) AI chatbots are convenient. They can draft emails, summarize articles, help with travel plans, and even offer financial advice. But the ease of conversation can lead to oversharing—and that can be costly. A recent column in The Washington Post drew attention to five categories of personal information that should never be handed over to a chatbot, no matter how helpful it seems. Below is a summary of the advice, along with context on why it matters and what you can do instead. ...

Five Things You Should Never Tell an AI Chatbot About Your Money AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and others have become everyday tools for quick answers, writing help, and even financial advice. Their convenience is hard to beat. But there’s a catch: these tools are not designed to keep your secrets safe. Recent incidents and expert warnings — including a Washington Post column, a Reader’s Digest piece, and a BBC report showing how easily chatbots can be hacked — make clear that sharing certain types of information with a chatbot can put your money and identity at risk. ...

New Google Scam Looks Real—Here’s How to Spot It and Stay Safe A fresh wave of phishing emails impersonating Google is hitting inboxes, and they’re clever enough to fool people who usually know better. The messages mimic official Google security alerts or shared document notifications. The goal: trick you into clicking a link that leads to a fake login page, where your credentials are stolen. Reports from Reader’s Digest and other consumer safety outlets confirm this scam is actively circulating, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to learn the telltale signs. ...

The Hidden Danger in Your Browser: How Productivity Extensions Can Turn Into Backdoors It’s easy to install a Chrome extension that promises to save time – a grammar checker, a tab manager, a password filler. These tools feel harmless, even essential. But the convenience hides a real security risk: an extension can become a backdoor into your system, and a poorly chosen one can expose your employer’s entire network. ...

Hidden Danger in Your Chrome Extensions: How to Spot a Backdoor Chrome extensions make life easier. They block ads, manage passwords, check grammar, and automate repetitive tasks. But that convenience comes with a trade-off: every extension you install gets a degree of access to your browser and the data flowing through it. ...

How Your ‘Helpful’ Chrome Extension Could Be a Backdoor for Hackers You probably installed that grammar checker, tab manager, or coupon finder without a second thought. It looked useful, had good reviews, and came from the Chrome Web Store — so it must be safe, right? Unfortunately, that assumption has become increasingly dangerous. ...

Police AI Surveillance Is Expanding — What It Means for Your Privacy Introduction In early May 2026, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office announced it was broadening its use of artificial intelligence–powered surveillance tools. The new systems include a higher-resolution network of automated license plate readers, AI-enhanced video analytics that can flag “suspicious” behavior in real time, and an expansion of facial recognition capabilities. While local officials frame the move as a public safety measure, privacy advocates have raised alarms about the scope of data collection, the lack of clear oversight, and the potential for these systems to be used in ways that erode civil liberties. ...

How Productivity Chrome Extensions Are Becoming Hacker Tools: What to Do Introduction Browser extensions are deceptively small pieces of software. A grammar checker, a note-taking assistant, or a tab manager can seem harmless—even essential—for daily work. But in recent years, Chrome extensions have become a favored entry point for attackers. The same permissions that let an extension read your inbox or modify web pages can also be used to siphon credentials, exfiltrate files, or inject malicious code. ...

How to Spot a Malicious Chrome Extension (Before It Spies on You) If you use Chrome for work or personal browsing, you’ve probably installed a handful of extensions that promise to boost productivity – ad blockers, grammar checkers, tab managers, password helpers. Most are harmless. But a growing number are not. ...