Safari 14 Added WebExtensions Support. So Where Are the Extensions?

At WWDC last year, Apple announced it was going to support Chrome-style browser extensions (the WebExtensions API) in Safari. Months after Safari 14’s release, are developers bothering with Safari? Jason Snell: The answer seems to be largely no — at least, not yet. The Mac App Store’s Safari extensions library seems to be largely populated with the same stuff that was…

Microsoft Removes 18 Malicious Edge Extensions for Injecting Ads Into Web Pages

Microsoft has removed 18 Edge browser extensions from the Edge Add-ons portal after the extensions were caught injecting ads into users’ web search results pages. From a report: The extensions were removed between November 20 and November 25 after Microsoft received multiple complaints from users via Reddit. A subsequent investigation found multiple abusive extensions that had been uploaded on Microsoft’s new…

The Best Chrome Extensions To Prevent Creepy Web Tracking

Wired has highlighted several browser extensions that “are a simple first step in improving your online privacy.” Other steps to take include adding a privacy-first browser and VPN to further mask your web activity. An anonymous reader shares the report: Privacy Badger is one of the best options for blocking online tracking in your current browser. For a start, it’s created…

Safari 14 Removes Flash, Gets Support for Breach Alerts, HTTP/3, and WebP

Safari 14, scheduled to be released later this fall with iOS 14 and macOS 11, is a release that is packed choke-full with features. From a report: The biggest and most important of the new additions is support for WebExtensions, a technology for creating browser extensions. What this means for Safari users is that starting this fall, they’ll see a huge…

Google Detects Edge Users Visiting Its Sites, Urges Them to Switch to Chrome

In Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser, Chrome’s extensions “work as good as they work on Chrome browsers,” argues the MS Power User blog. But guess what happens when you use Edge to visit Chrome’s “Web Store” for downloading extensions?
According to Google, internet users should use Google Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge if they want to use browser extensions securely. On visiting the…

Amazon Warned Holiday Shopper That Honey, a Popular Browser Extension, Was a ‘Security Risk’

In an apparent swipe at PayPal’s recent $4 billion acquisition of Honey, a popular browser extension that tracks prices and discount codes, Amazon labeled the service as “a security risk” for shoppers over the holidays. Wired reports: “Honey tracks your private shopping behavior, collects data like your order history and items saved, and can read or change any of your data…

Mozilla Outlines Plan For Manifest V3 Extensions API

New submitter q4Fry writes: When Google released its changes to the Chrome WebExtensions API for comment, many groups criticized them for cutting off ad-blockers at the knees. Now, Mozilla has released its plan for following (and departing from) the APIs that Chrome may adopt. Will Mozilla follow Google with these changes? In the absence of a true standard for browser extensions,…

Skype, Slack, Other Electron-Based Apps Can Be Easily Backdoored

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Electron development platform is a key part of many applications, thanks to its cross-platform capabilities. Based on JavaScript and Node.js, Electron has been used to create client applications for Internet communications tools (including Skype, WhatsApp, and Slack) and even Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code development tool. But Electron can also pose a…