The extension was recording every page visited, how you got to the page (the referrer), your IP address and locale, and other information - all attached to a unique ID for easy tracking. The original blog post found that the Avast Online Security extension, which is usually installed as part of Avast's anti-virus products, transmits far more data than is necessary to check if a page is 'safe' or not. In a somewhat-belated response, Google has now removed some of Avast's extensions from the Chrome Web Store.
Avast has provided the following statement to us:īack in October, Wladimir Palant, developer of the popular AdBlock Plus browser extension, published a blog post outlining how extensions from security company Avast/AVG were collecting massive amounts of data from users.
