Online Safety

Protect Your Privacy in an AI World: A Practical Guide The convenience of AI tools comes with a growing privacy cost. Every query you type into ChatGPT, Google Bard, or similar services generates data that companies can use for training, analytics, and sometimes sharing with third parties. A recent piece by Heather Parry on Substack lays out how this erosion of privacy is accelerating as AI becomes more embedded in daily life. Whether you use AI for work, study, or casual exploration, it’s worth understanding what’s happening and how to take back some control. ...

How AI Tools Are Eroding Your Privacy — and What You Can Do About It Intro More apps and devices now include AI features that make life easier—voice assistants, auto-generated replies, smart photo organization, chatbot help. But each of these conveniences comes with a hidden trade-off: your personal data is being collected, analyzed, and often shared in ways that are not transparent. A recent piece on Heather Parry’s Substack highlighted how quickly this erosion of privacy is happening, and it’s a conversation every internet user should pay attention to. This article walks through what’s actually going on, why it matters, and how you can take back some control. ...

How AI Tools Are Eating Away Your Privacy (And What You Can Do About It) If you’ve used a chatbot to draft an email, asked a voice assistant for the weather, or let a streaming service recommend your next show, you’ve interacted with artificial intelligence. What’s less visible is the data these tools collect about you—your words, your habits, your location, even your tone of voice. A recent post by Heather Parry on Substack, titled “AI’s erosion of privacy,” highlights how this data collection is expanding faster than most users realise. ...

Never Tell Your AI Chatbot These 5 Financial Details A growing number of people use AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot for everyday tasks—drafting emails, planning meals, or answering quick questions. But that convenience comes with a real risk: oversharing sensitive financial information. Recent reporting from The Washington Post and independent security research highlight why you should keep certain details out of your chat history entirely. ...

Your Chrome Extensions Could Be a Backdoor – Here’s How to Stay Safe Browser extensions are one of those tools that make life online easier—blocking ads, managing passwords, taking notes, or boosting productivity. But their convenience comes with a hidden cost: permissions. A recent report from Security Boulevard details how sophisticated attackers compromised several popular productivity extensions and turned them into backdoors for enterprise-level attacks. If you use Chrome extensions for work or personal tasks, this is worth understanding. ...

Is Your Chrome Extension a Backdoor? How to Spot Malicious ‘Productivity’ Tools You probably installed a Chrome extension to save time—a grammar checker, a PDF converter, a tab manager. These tools promise efficiency, and for a while they work as advertised. Then one day your credentials end up on a dark web marketplace, or your work account starts sending emails you never wrote. The extension you trusted was the delivery mechanism. ...

Keep Your Money Safe: 5 Things You Should Never Tell an AI Chatbot AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s Gemini have become everyday tools for drafting emails, summarizing documents, and even brainstorming financial decisions. The convenience is real. But the risks are often overlooked. ...

Is That Chrome Extension Spying on You? How to Spot a Backdoor in “Productivity Tools” You probably have a handful of Chrome extensions installed right now—a grammar checker, a coupon finder, a tab manager, maybe a note-taking tool. They seem harmless. But behind the scenes, some of these “productivity tools” have become a favored entry point for attackers. ...

Chrome Extensions Gone Rogue: How to Spot a Backdoored Productivity Tool You install a Chrome extension because it promises to save you ten minutes a day—maybe an email snippet tool, a grammar checker, or a tab manager. A week later, your browser starts redirecting search results, or you notice odd network activity. That’s not a bug; it might be a backdoor. ...

Stop Telling Your AI Chatbot These 5 Things – Your Bank Account Will Thank You AI chatbots have become everyday tools for quick answers, writing help, and even financial advice. But as their use grows, so does the risk of oversharing sensitive details that can be turned against you. A recent Washington Post column highlighted five categories of information you should never disclose to a chatbot—advice that’s worth taking seriously. ...