Chrome extensions can boost your browsing, empowering you to do anything from customizing the look of sites to providing personalized advice when you’re planning a vacation. But as with any software, extensions can also introduce risk.
That’s why we have a team whose only job is to focus on keeping you safe as you install and take advantage of Chrome extensions. Our team:
The top of the extensions page (chrome://extensions) warns you of any extensions you have installed that might pose a security risk. (If you don’t see a warning panel, you probably don’t have any extensions you need to worry about.) The panel includes:
You’ll get notified when Chrome’s Safety Check has recommendations for you or you can check on your own by running Safety Check. Just type “run safety check” in Chrome’s address bar and select the corresponding shortcut: “Go to Chrome safety check.”
User flow of removing extensions highlighted by Safety Check.
Besides the Safety Check, you can visit the extensions page directly in a number of ways:
Before an extension is even accessible to install from the Chrome Web Store, we have two levels of verification to ensure an extension is safe:
This review process weeds out the overwhelming majority of bad extensions before they even get published. In 2024, less than 1% of all installs from the Chrome Web Store were found to include malware. We're proud of this record and yet some bad extensions still get through, which is why we also monitor published extensions.
The same Chrome team that reviews extensions before they get published also reviews extensions that are already on the Chrome Web Store. And just like the pre-check, this monitoring includes both human and machine reviews. We also work closely with trusted security researchers outside of Google, and even pay researchers who report possible threats to Chrome users through our Developer Data Protection Rewards Program.
What about extensions that get updated over time, or are programmed to execute malicious code at a later date? Our systems monitor for that as well, by periodically reviewing what extensions are actually doing and comparing that to the stated objectives defined by each extension in the Chrome Web Store.
If the team finds that an extension poses a severe risk to Chrome users, it’s immediately remove from the Chrome Web Store and the extension gets disabled on all browsers that have it installed.
The extensions page highlights when you have a potentially unsafe extension downloaded
The Chrome Web Store provides useful information about each extension and its developer. The following information should help you decide whether it’s safe to install an extension:
Be careful of sites that try to quickly persuade you to install extensions, especially if the site has little in common with the extension.
Even though Safety Check and your Extensions page (chrome://extensions) warn you of extensions that might pose a risk, it’s still a good idea to review your extensions from time to time.
The Enhanced protection mode of Safe Browsing is Chrome’s highest level of protection that we offer. Not only does this mode provide you with the best protections against phishing and malware, but it also provides additional features targeted to keep you safe against potentially harmful extensions. Threats are constantly evolving and Safe Browsing’s Enhanced protection mode is the best way to ensure that you have the most advanced security features in Chrome. This can be enabled from the Safe Browsing settings page in Chrome (chrome://settings/security) and selecting “Enhanced”.
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