Useful Plugins: A Double-Edged Sword? Analysis Tool Reveals Hidden Risks

In the past two years, whether you are doing cross-border business, e-commerce, marketing, or just browsing the internet as a regular user, browser extensions have almost become a necessity.

For most people, clicking “Add extension” when installing a plugin is almost a reflex. Few realize that this single step may already be handing over a large amount of browser data.

The deeper an extension integrates into your browser environment, the more impact it has—some even directly participate in browser fingerprint generation. Today, let’s talk about why extensions are not better the more you install them, but rather the more “restrained” you use them, the safer you are.

I. Why Are Browser Extensions Becoming “More and More Useful”?

Modern browser extensions are no longer just “small tools.” A mature extension often has the following capabilities:

• Read and modify web page content

• Monitor your browsing behavior

• Access cookies and local storage

• Continuously communicate with remote servers

• Even participate in browser fingerprint generation

These permissions are exactly why extensions are so powerful—but this is also where the problems begin.

II. Browser extensions : More permissions mean more concentrated risks

When installing extensions, most people don’t really read the permission prompts, such as:

“Read and change all your data on all websites”

This statement alone means:

• Which websites you visit

• What you type on pages

• Your login status and behavior trails

In theory, extensions can see all of this.

Analysis using browser extension detection tools shows that many popular extensions have issues such as:

• Permissions far exceeding functional needs

A simple screenshot tool may still request access to all page data.

• Frequent background requests

Even when you are not actively using it, the extension continues sending data to external servers.

• Heavy code obfuscation

Core logic is deliberately hidden, making real behavior hard to judge.

These situations themselves pose security risks.

III. The Hidden Relationship Between Extensions and Browser Fingerprints

Many people only focus on whether extensions “steal data,” while overlooking browser fingerprinting.

In fact, extensions are one of the key factors influencing browser fingerprints.

Common fingerprint features include:

• List of installed extensions

• JavaScript characteristics injected by extensions

• Request header changes

• Canvas / WebGL behavior differences

The more extensions you install—and the more niche they are—the more “unique” your browser fingerprint becomes.

After testing with tools such as the ToDetect Fingerprint Lookup Tool, you’ll find:

• More extensions → higher fingerprint uniqueness

• More complex extensions → more exposed characteristics

• Different extension combinations → easier precise identification

For users who need account isolation, privacy protection, or anti-tracking, this is a very real concern.

IV. Why Do “Useful Extensions” Often Cause Problems?

1. Complex functionality, large codebases

The more code there is, the harder it is to audit—and the higher the chance of vulnerabilities or gray-area logic.

2. Commercial pressure

Free yet powerful extensions still need to make money:

• Data monetization

• Behavior analysis

• Third-party SDK integrations

All of these directly affect extension security.

3. Frequent but opaque updates

Many extensions have very “simple” update logs, but users can hardly notice what new permissions are actually added.

V. How to Reduce Risks with Browser Extension Detection Tools

1. Regularly scan your browser extensions

Focus on requested domains, abnormal network communication, and whether extra scripts are injected.

2. Use together with browser fingerprint detection tools 

The ToDetect Fingerprint Lookup Tool can help you determine:

• Whether your current fingerprint is overly unique

• Whether extensions add identifiable characteristics

• Whether there are fingerprint stability anomalies

This is a step many people overlook—but it’s extremely useful.

3. Extensions should be “just enough”

Keep only one extension per function type, delete long-unused ones, and use web-based tools instead of extensions whenever possible.

Final Thoughts

Extensions do improve efficiency—but efficiency and risk often grow together.

Based on ToDetect browser extension security and fingerprint detection results, those extensions that are “feature-packed and extremely smooth” are often the ones that deserve extra caution.

If you have many extensions installed, it’s recommended to regularly run a full scan with the ToDetect Fingerprint Lookup Tool. Many issues truly only become visible after testing.