ReportWire

Tag: extensions

  • Cybersecurity Experts Warn That This Browser Extension Is Selling Your Chats With ChatGPT

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    A cybersecurity company claims that a number of web browser extensions are secretly logging and selling users’ conversations with AI chatbots. 

    KOI, an Israel-based cybersecurity firm focused on developing protections against extension-based attacks, has released a report alleging that Urban VPN Proxy, a popular VPN extension on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, has a hidden function to “harvest” user conversations on AI platforms including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok, and Meta AI. The extension was updated with this new capability in July, according to KOI. 

    The report says that when users with the extension visit any of the above platforms, the extension injects an “executor” script directly into the webpage, so that “every network request and response on that page passes through the extension’s code first.” This means the extension sees every message sent by users and generated by the AI platforms. Once the info has been collected, it’s sent to the extension’s external servers. 

    Urban VPN Proxy wasn’t the only extension that KOI identified as containing AI harvesting functionality. The firm identified the following extensions, all of which come from the same organization, as containing the same malicious code: 

    Google Chrome Extensions:

    • Urban VPN Proxy – 6,000,000 users
    • 1ClickVPN Proxy – 600,000 users
    • Urban Browser Guard – 40,000 users
    • Urban Ad Blocker – 10,000 users

    Microsoft Edge Extensions:

    • Urban VPN Proxy – 1,323,622 users
    • 1ClickVPN Proxy – 36,459 users
    • Urban Browser Guard – 12,624 users
    • Urban Ad Blocker – 6,476 users

    In total, according to KOI, over 8 million users have installed these extensions. The company behind these extensions is Urban Cyber Security, which KOI says is affiliated with BiScience, a data broker company. 

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    Ben Sherry

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  • How to Create Your Own Browser Extension

    How to Create Your Own Browser Extension

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    Most of us spend a lot of time inside a web browser. If you’re a Chrome, Firefox, or Edge user, then you’ll know these browsers come with a huge number of third-party extensions to augment the features already built into the software.

    But what if you need some kind of specific extra functionality, some tool or feature that’s not covered by existing add-ons? Then it might be time to consider writing your own browser extension. That might sound daunting, but It’s not that difficult to do once you learn how. And once you’ve created a custom extension, you can either keep it for your own private use or make it public so anyone can use it.

    Some coding knowledge is required, so you’ll need to learn the basics of how web pages and scripts are written if you don’t already know them. If you’re a beginner, you can start small and work your way up. There are also a lot of helpful resources out there on the web if you need them, everything from code libraries to online courses.

    Get Started

    You’re going to need an idea for an extension you can write.

    Photograph: David Nield

    There are certain components that make up a browser extension. First is the manifest, which takes the filename manifest.json and contains various bits of metadata identifying the extension and what it does. You put the name of the extension in the manifest, describe what it does, and specify a default action that the extension carries out.

    Check out the manifest file format documentation provided by Google for Chrome. You can see some examples there, including a minimal manifest only containing the basics. The manifest points to all of the other required files for the extension, which should be kept in the same folder as you develop it.

    Some of the files the manifest points to are the icon files, which visually represent your extension in the browser. Users will look for your icon to see that your extension is running, and they’ll click on the icon to access the extension’s settings or to disable it. You should create a 128 x 128-pixel icon as a minimum, and icons at other sizes (as listed here) are recommended, so the extension looks the same everywhere it appears in the browser, from the settings screen to the tab bar. If you don’t provide an icon, a generic one showing the first letter of the extension name will be used instead.

    You then have your scripts, which do the actual work of the extension and can come in a variety of forms: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) for basic web design, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for more advanced styling and manipulation of objects on the web, and JavaScript to do the bulk of the programming tasks (assuming your extension does something more than simply loading a page on screen).

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    David Nield

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  • How to Open Spotify Links If You Aren’t a Spotify User

    How to Open Spotify Links If You Aren’t a Spotify User

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    Spotify dominates the music industry. This becomes really obvious if you don’t use Spotify: You end up being sent, and inevitably clicking on, Spotify links all the time. It happens on social media, yes, but also in text exchanges with friends, in emails, and in DMs. The thought is a good one; someone enjoyed a piece of music and wanted to share it with you. The problem, though, is that the Spotify link is mostly useless if you don’t use Spotify.

    What if you use other streaming apps, such as those offered by Apple, Amazon, and YouTube, to listen to music? Are you doomed to search for the track, album, or artist on those services manually? Is that forever your fate? Absolutely not. Here are a few tools that can help you turn Spotify links into links for your preferred music service. (Just note, these tools will work to locate songs, artists, and albums across platforms, but since playlists are usually unique to each platform, these methods won’t work with custom playlists.)

    Google Chrome: An Extension to Automatically Redirect Links

    If you use Google Chrome or a compatible browser like Microsoft Edge, the browser extension Music Link can automatically open all Spotify links in whatever music app you like. Just install the extension and click its icon to configure it. Choose which music service you prefer and you’re done: Any Spotify link you get from now on will redirect to your app of choice.

    You can optionally uncheck whatever services you’re fine with getting links to. SoundCloud, for example, tends to let you play music regardless of whether you have an account, and a lot of its offerings aren’t on other platforms, so you might as well not redirect those links. For the most part, though, this is the kind of extension you can install and never think about ever again.

    iPhone and iPad: Song.link for Apple Shortcuts

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    Chrome extensions may not always work on iPhones or iPads, but thankfully there’s an Apple shortcut for redirecting Spotify links. Just copy any Spotify URL to the clipboard then launch the shortcut Song.Link. This will find the URL in your clipboard and offer you links to the song on other platforms. There’s even a YouTube link, which is helpful if you don’t subscribe to any streaming service.

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    Justin Pot

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