Pimp your computer

 

Image from Pixabay

For many people, the car is an extension of their identity, even of their ego. They want to give their car something of their own, so that their faithful four-wheeler reflects  its owner. Others have a car that, when they bought it, was missing certain features. Both groups are served by an extensive accessories and services market, where they can find a whole range of extras, from a simple phone holder to completely pimping your car.

Computers van also be personalized. I consider stickers on a laptop or setting a different screen background to be personality-enhancing activities, but just like a car, you can also provide a PC with all kinds of extra functionality. The most obvious thing is of course installing software. At work you are often limited in this - not only because of security considerations, but also because of manageability and licenses. So this blog is particularly nice for home use.

Not only can you install additional programs, you can also install add-ons for existing programs. These so-called plug-ins are especially popular with internet browsers (and then they are called browser extensions). There are far more than a hundred thousand extensions available for Google Chrome alone. Available from both the official stores of the browser manufacturers and elsewhere on the Internet. Popular extensions are available, for example, for blocking advertisements, for password managers and for expanding Office functions. Extensions for ChatGPT have also been popular lately.

There are quite a few bad apples in the basket. Just like apps on your phone, extensions are based on permissions, which ought to limit what they are capable of. For example, an ad blocker does not need to know where you are, but a password manager must be able to see when you type a password (otherwise the question "Shall I save this for you?" is not useful). However, many extensions are not very picky about requesting permissions, and you as a user may not be very strict in managing those permissions - did you even know that you can? Extensions may be completely bona fide at the time of installation, but they can subsequently acquire malicious functions via an automatic update. Maybe because there was a criminal behind it from the start, maybe because the creator of the extension was hacked and his product was modified without his knowledge.

As always, there are two types of bad apples. One species thrives on indolence, the other on malice. If a developer doesn't feel like finding out exactly what his extension needs, he can just check everything. In doing so, he unintentionally makes his extension vulnerable. His criminal colleague is deliberately trying to get his extension to do things that have nothing to do with the reason for which you, the user, install his extension. For example, collecting all kinds of data, such as passwords, emails and documents. Or adjusting search results so that you end up on unsafe websites. Or changing your privacy settings. Your browser was already the window to your world, but it is increasingly becoming the window to the inside as more and more applications are accessed via the browser. It is therefore quite important that the security of your browser is not undermined. Whether it is Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox or a more exotic browser does not matter: all browsers that work with extensions face this risk.

How can you protect yourself against this while still benefiting from the joys that extensions have to offer? I have put together a number of tips and the most common is this one: only install extensions from your browser manufacturer's store (you can find them in the menu of your browser). That certainly offers no guarantees, but extensions from elsewhere are less reliable anyway. If you are looking for an extension (for example for your password manager) and you are shown multiple products, make sure you choose the right one, in this case from the makers of your password manager. Also look at the number of downloads and the reviews, and don't be fooled by glowing reviews that seem too good to be true. Also check whether independent articles have been written about it. And, very important: check whether the permissions an extension requests make sense.

The safest way to pimp your computer still involves stickers, but if you want something more functional, make sure you maintain control over what happens on your computer.

 

And in the big bad world...

• Meta will train its AI systems with our social media posts - but in Europe you can refuse.
• the British parliament may soon have a member controlled by AI.
• a student was arrested for using a self-made cheating system with AI.
• Biometrics is also not without errors.
• points the accusing finger of the MIVD at China.
• young cybercriminals are arming themselves. [DUTCH]
• London hospitals turn to the sneaker network after a cyber attack.
• Scammers already dare to pose as the American security organization CISA.
• Microsoft's Recall AI function is under fire.
• this article is certainly not positive about Microsoft's security posture.
• the US Congress is also angry with Microsoft.