Chrome Extensions and AI Chats: Privacy Risks and Data Exploitation
A popular Chrome extension called Urban VPN Proxy, with 6 million users, was found secretly collecting and exfiltrating users' AI chat prompts and responses to remote servers, despite claiming to provide VPN services and offering a privacy protection feature. The extension's update in July 2025 enabled default data harvesting, which is hidden from users, raising significant privacy concerns. Similar data collection practices were identified in other extensions from the same publisher, highlighting risks associated with trusted marketplace badges and the need for better oversight.