Google is adding a new feature to its Chrome browser, starting with Chrome 117, that will warn users when an extension they have installed has been removed from the Chrome Web Store. This feature aims to enhance user security by alerting them to potentially malicious extensions.
Extensions can be a useful way to extend the functionality of the Chrome browser, but they are sometimes abused by threat actors who create malicious extensions that steal passwords or serve adware. Google actively removes such malicious extensions from the Chrome Web Store, but users who have already installed them may not be aware of their removal and continue to use them.
By notifying users when an extension has been removed from the Web Store, Google hopes to encourage them to investigate further and potentially remove the extension from their browser. The removal of an extension from the Chrome Web Store is often indicative of it being malware.
This feature is currently available in the Chrome 117 Beta version and will be rolled out to the stable version of Chrome in the near future. Users can also test it in Chrome 116 by enabling the “Extensions Module in Safety Check” feature in the browser’s settings.
