[ocdtrekkie]

If the dominant web browser wasn't an ad company, browser extensions would not exist in the way they do today. Because any responsible security engineer would nuke browser extensions from orbit, but currently everyone who isn't an ad company has to maintain feature parity with the ad company for competitive reasons.

They are by far the most risky thing one could possibly put on a PC. They essentially remove any alleged benefit to HTTPS/encryption or anything of the sort, because they live inside your web browser and have post-decryption access, often to every website you visit and everything you enter into them.

Do not use browser extensions. Ask your IT person to restrict the ability to install browser extensions.

[jackson1442]

Huh? From my point of view extensions like uBlock Origin and 1PasswordX further enhance and secure my browsing, with uBO I'm blocking ads and trackers (including malicious ones) and with 1Pass I get secure form fill.

Novelty extensions are a completely different story but I wouldn't go so far as to ban all extensions ever.

[ocdtrekkie]

I would say any feature worth building as an extension should be a browser feature (like Edge and Firefox have brought ad/tracker blocking). An extension or two for critical functionality is fine if you really, really trust the source, but the default should be hostile to extensions.

[EveYoung]

But how would you differentiate between useful and gimmicky extensions? If you give users freedom, it always comes with a risk. For the average user, a system like Safari on iOS might be the best solution while more advanced users should have the option to install whatever they like.