When browsing the Internet, we can leave a door open to our computer that endangers both the security of our data and our privacy. And it is that lurking we can find dangers such as phishing sites, trackers, cookies and malware. If we use Google Chrome as the default browser, we should know that there are extensions that can help us improve our security.
One of the best features of the Google browser is that it is compatible with a large number of add-ons that will help us to provide it with a greater number of functionalities. That is why we can find a good number of extensions that can help us avoid being victims of one of the most common scams on the Internet, such as phishing.
what is phishing
When we talk about phishing we are referring to the method by which cybercriminals can steal our access credentials . It is usually presented in the form of a message through both email and social networks. Its objective is to deceive its victim so that they try to make us believe that we are on an official website where they can enter our data.
However, in reality, it is redirecting us to a fraudulent page which aims to send our credentials that we have inserted to a server controlled by the attackers. In addition, these make use of some tricks to attract the attention of the recipients of the messages by introducing emergency indications or alarms so that we act immediately and access the fraudulent website.
Prevention measures
Identity theft on the Internet is carried out through phishing, so to avoid it, it is important that we take some measures into account. For example, it is not recommended to click on links that we receive by mail or messaging, even if we know the sender. It is recommended to access the site directly through our search engine, such as Google.
Another good habit is to change our passwords frequently , since it is possible that the accounts have been compromised and we may not have even been aware of it, so updating the password can be a good preventive measure. Likewise, we cannot forget to keep our antivirus updated and, if possible, have a firewall active to reinforce security.
As all precaution is little, we cannot ignore the possibility of installing a small add-on for Chrome with which to navigate safely.
Essential plugins for Chrome
Next, we are going to see a series of add-ons that we can install in Chrome and through which we can prevent access to websites that may be fraudulent.
SafeToOpen, detect fraudulent websites
This tool is responsible for detecting new fraudulent websites that we can access through malicious messages, providing protection against them. It does this by inspecting both visual and non-visual elements in real time , preventing us from revealing sensitive information like passwords.
We should also know that it does not track all our browsing, but only those pages that may be suspicious , without collecting any data about our use, to preserve our privacy at all times. Once the corresponding analyzes have been carried out, the URLs that have turned out to be suspicious are encrypted so that only the part of the domain name of the address is displayed. We can download SafeToOpen for Chrome by clicking on this link to its main page .
Privase, quickly check the security of the web
This add-on for Chrome will allow us to browse the Internet with complete peace of mind, helping us to keep our online data protected. It will simply be necessary to take a look to know the degree of security with which any website that we visit has. It also has tracker blocking , preventing trackers from seeing data about the websites we access and your interests in the form of advertising. In addition, it provides direct access to the privacy settings of web pages that we can limit the data that this site uses.
Privasee is a free extension for Chrome that we can download by clicking on this link to its website .
Netcraft, searches for information related to the websites we visit
It is a tool that allows us to easily search for information related to the websites we visit, providing us with protection against phishing and malicious JavaScript , warning us if something is not appropriate. Its community is another fundamental aspect, since it is its own users who can alert of possible infractions. For example, if we receive a suspicious message on social networks, we report it and the community will take care of identifying it.
Netcraft does its job by processing fraudulent URLs that can compromise our security, informing us of any dangerous sites that we can access while browsing regularly. We can download it for free from the Chrome Store itself.
Password protection alert, for Google users
This extension is especially suitable for Google users. In the event that we enter our Gmail or Google for Work password on sites other than their official channels, we will receive an alert with the possibility of changing the password if necessary. To do this, the tool monitors all the pages that we visit from our browser. The way to detect if it is a Google login page is by checking the HTML code of each page we visit.
This plugin does not store our password or our keystrokes. Instead, it saves a secure thumbnail of the password to compare with thumbnails of our most recent keystrokes made in Chrome. Mind you, the tool doesn’t protect incognito windows, apps, or Chrome extensions. It can be downloaded for free by clicking on this link to the Chrome Store .
BroeserWall, protection against fraudulent pages
This extension for Chrome offers us free protection against all kinds of fraudulent pages such as malware, encrypted information and phishing that try to trick us and obtain confidential data. It is also responsible for blocking any page that may induce us to fill out forms of dubious legality, as well as subscriptions to Premium SMS services .
BrowserWall allows us to securely log in and conduct transactions on the Internet. It offers us the possibility of knowing the scale of the threats that beset us through both private and general statistics that will allow us to be able to choose the best protection. This extension is free to download for Chrome .
PhishDetector, banking phishing specialist
With this powerful plugin we can detect phishing attacks on websites related to online banking. It has a rule-based system that is responsible for analyzing the content of the website to identify this type of attack. In this way, it has the ability to detect possible scams without false alarms, since it has highly accurate results.
It is recommended that we only use this plugin when we are going to operate with online banks. It can be downloaded for Chrome for free.
WOT Website Security & Browsing Protection, security when buying
WOT is an extension that will help us keep our browser protected while we browse and shop online on trusted sites. It will warn us when we visit potentially dangerous sites , scams, malware, phishing, fraudulent stores, dangerous links, etc.
It has icons in red, yellow and green colors depending on the possible danger of the site. Reputation is calculated by combining advanced algorithms with millions of reviews from users themselves. In addition, it has both real-time and manual protection. We can download WOT from this link to the Chrome extensions store .
Which of all should I use?
As we have been able to verify, we have a large number of extensions that we can install in our Chrome browser and that will help us in different ways to avoid falling prey to cyber fraud networks through identity theft. All of them are free so we can try them out and see first-hand which one is ideal for each of us.
One of the options that we cannot ignore is SafeToOpen , since this complement will be in charge of tracking all the suspicious pages that we can visit, preventing us from giving our credentials to unsafe sites or sites that are suspected of being a scam. In addition, it fully respects our privacy as it only scans the pages that it considers especially dangerous for our security.
