


"The data collected here goes far beyond merely exposing the sites that you visit and your search history," he explained. How key technology partners grow with your organisation Download now Managing security risk and compliance in a challenging landscape Mozilla has since reinstated the Online Security addons, but not SafePrice. Palant highlighted in his blog post four extensions: Avast Online Security, AVG Online Security, as well as the SafePrice shopping addon from both companies. Way to go Google!" The latter has 3,582 users, according to the Google Web Store.Īvast, which bought AVG in 2016, had not replied to a request for comment at the time of publishing. "Only AVG Online Security remains for some reason.

"I didn't expect to publish this update any more, but Avast extensions are now gone from Chrome Web Store as well," Palant tweeted.

Google has now reportedly also followed that lead, removing the questionable extensions. That data, according to the post, included user ID, where you're located, and how you got to a specific page.Īfter that report, Mozilla and Opera both pulled the AVG and Avast extensions, though the former reinstated one set of add-ons after changes to data collection were made. Google Chrome is the latest browser to drop AVG and Avast extensions after reports of excessive data snooping.īack in October, a blog post from Wladimir Palant, founder and CTO at AdBlock Plus, highlighted that browser extensions created by the two security firms were hoovering up more data than necessary to function, especially versus rivals such as Google Safe Browsing.
