Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Under New Management is a browser extension that monitors for changes of ownership in other extensions.
- The extension isn’t new, but it’s useful: Bad actors can acquire existing extensions to harvest user data.
- Under New Management’s code is published on GitHub, helping ensure transparency.
Extensions can add useful functionality to your browser, but there’s always the possibility that an extension can change hands after you’ve granted it access your data — a potentially major security risk. If that’s something you worry about, there’s an extension you should check out.
PCWorld has highlighted a Chrome extension called Under New Management that’s made to alert you when a different extension you have installed is acquired by a new party, giving you the chance to remove it or at least look into its latest owner.
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With Under New Management installed, you’ll see an alert on the extension’s icon when ownership of a different extension in your browser changes. Changes in ownership don’t necessarily mean bad news, but as PCWorld‘s Michael Crider writes, he found Under New Management after a different extension he was using, Save image as Type, came under the control of a new owner that turned out to be fiddling around with user data. It’s a real problem.
Under New Management isn’t new, and it’s relatively small, being the the project of a solo developer with about 9,000 users. If you’re worried about this extension being sold to a would-be data harvester, its code is published on GitHub. It also hasn’t been updated in about two years, so it should be easy to track whether any questionable changes take place.
You can install Under New Management from the Chrome Web Store right now.
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