Are you using a malicious browser extension without realizing?

There are hundredsof thousands of browser extensions designed to help us to save time, be moreproductive, and personalise our online experience.

And while the majority of them do what they’resupposed to, some are not designed to help you at all…

If you’re unfortunate enough to download a maliciousbrowser extension without realising, it could harm your productivity and evenflood your work with unwanted advertising.

This is known as adware. It’s a form ofmalware (malicious software) that’s designed to bombard you with unwantedadverts.

It can also change your search engine and sendyou to affiliate pages when you’re making purchases. These activities generaterevenue for the extension’s creators.

In a recent report from a cyber security company,it revealed more than 4 million of its customers have been attacked by adwarehiding in browser extensions over the last couple of years.

And often people didn’t realise they wereunder attack.

There’s a darker scenario where thesemalicious extensions are hiding actual malware which can infect your computer.

This can lead to sensitive data such as yourlogins or even payment details being stolen. And of course malware can spreadacross an entire network.

To keep your business and its data safe fromthe risk of malicious browser extensions, it’s important you only ever downloadthem from reliable and trusted sources.

Read reviews and look at ratings. If a browserseems too good to be true it probably is.

As the business owner, you might also lookinto controlling which extensions can be installed by your team.

We can help with this, as well as looking atup-to-date software protection and (fun) security training for your team.

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