why you Can't install chrome extensions

Imagine you want a spellcheck and grammar correction extension for Chrome. You lobby your department to fund it, you convince IT and security it is just an extension. What could possibly go wrong?

Why can't I install this great calculator extension? is one of the most frequently asked questions posed by users. So why are all extensions blocked, by default? Why is it so hard to get an exception?

Sorry, but you can't.

Shadow IT - the horror show of what may go wrong

Shadow IT means the proliferation of unofficial software that corporate IT has no control over. Unsupported services (like Whatsapp or iMessage) count too.

Who manages vulnerabilities?

Imagine you want a spellcheck and grammar correction extension for Chrome. You get your department to fund it, you convince IT and security it is just an extension. Whose job is it to make sure that extension is constantly updated? Whose job is it to react when a vulnerability is discovered, potentially exposing data you and others were working on?

Shady intentions and shoddy execution

Some extensions deliberately target your data behind a façade of usefulness. Many extensions are written in a sloppy way.

Employees using their credit cards

A good portion of extensions are paid. Do you want your employees to get out their credit cards? Do you reimburse them? Do you start keeping lists of who is allowed to use which paid service? What do you do when people's licenses expire?

Who supports users? Who trains them?

Try calling the helpdesk when Whatsapp experiences an outage and you can't access the information your team has sent. What if they lose your data? What if Whatsapp shuts down the service? What if you receive lousy support? You have likely signed away any guarantees when you clicked "accept".

Google Chrome - even more things can go wrong

The following problems are specific to Chrome extensions.

Compromising Chrome's stability

Extensions may be poorly written and consume a lot of computer or network resources. They may make your system slow and even crash.

Unexpected changes

Extensions and the companies behind them may cease to exist, or be sold to other companies. Or they may change their permissions or decide that it's cheaper to store your data in unsavory places. Or they were free and started charging.

Compromising data

Chrome extensions are quite powerful and may have the ability to draw over pages, tricking you into clicking links, recording what you write or reading what you are looking at.

Moving to an online world has reduced many of the problems that traditionally plagued IT, but introduced new ones. Staying watchful is a core competency you will need in the future.

This may not have been the most upbeat post, but a necessary one. You may know that Bots are coming to Google Chat - they are great and will change our ways of working forever, but will pose the exact same questions. Thank you for reading!

#chrome #securityPublished 2019-02-28 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2019-08-10 by Holger Matthies.

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