Chrome browser update to limit add-ons' free access to your data

More and more browser add-ons being caught sticking their noses where they don't belong and collecting personal information on users' browsing habits, sometimes even to commit fraud. — dpa

More and more browser add-ons being caught sticking their noses where they don't belong and collecting personal information on users' browsing habits, sometimes even to commit fraud.

Earlier this year, one malicious add-on infected as many as 100,000 Chrome users to steal their credentials and secretly instal unwanted software.

Developers at Google appear to be aware of this problem, and say they are currently updating their Chrome browser to give users more control over how data is collected by the 180,000 odd extensions available for Chrome.

In the next iteration, whenever you visit a website, you'll be able to decide for each page whether your browser extensions can read and change data, the developers announced.

If you completely trust the add-on, you can also give it one-off permission to collect data on all a website you visit. You'll also be able to restrict an extension's access to your own custom list of websites. – dpa