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Privacy Badger

Version 2026.2.20 View in Chrome Web Store

Last scanned: 26 days ago | force re-scan

Extension Details

Developer: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Rating: 4.4 ★ (1.9K ratings)
Users: 1,000,000

Context-Aware Verdict

LOW
Overall Risk
Trust Factors:

Privacy Badger is developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a highly reputable digital rights organization with a strong track record of protecting user privacy. With 1 million users and a solid 4.4-star rating from nearly 2,000 reviews, this extension has demonstrated community trust and effectiveness. The EFF's transparent development practices and open-source nature add significant credibility to this privacy-focused tool.

Concerns:

While the security analysis flags multiple high-risk permissions, these are actually necessary for Privacy Badger's core functionality as a tracker blocker. The privacy permission allows it to modify browser privacy settings to enhance protection. The webRequest and webNavigation permissions enable it to intercept and block tracking requests. The broad host permissions and content script injection capabilities are required to identify and block trackers across all websites. However, users should be aware that any extension with such broad access could theoretically be misused if compromised.

Recommendations:

Given the EFF's stellar reputation and the extension's legitimate need for these permissions, Privacy Badger presents minimal actual risk despite the technical security flags. Users concerned about the broad permissions could run it in a separate Chrome profile, though this is likely unnecessary given the developer's trustworthiness. Regular users seeking enhanced privacy protection can confidently install this extension, as the benefits significantly outweigh the theoretical risks.

Findings

HIGH
Broad Content Script Injection
This extension can inject scripts into any website. This means it could potentially read sensitive data, modify website content, or steal credentials.
HIGH
Broad Host Permissions
This extension has broad host permissions allowing it to access many or all websites. This could potentially be used to steal sensitive data or track browsing activity.
HIGH
High-Risk Permission: privacy
This extension has the privacy permission. Can modify privacy settings. This could potentially be used maliciously to compromise security or privacy.
HIGH
High-Risk Permission: tabs
This extension has the tabs permission. Can access browser tab information and manipulate tabs. This could potentially be used maliciously to compromise security or privacy.
HIGH
High-Risk Permission: webNavigation
This extension has the webNavigation permission. Can track your web navigation. This could potentially be used maliciously to compromise security or privacy.
HIGH
High-Risk Permission: webRequest
This extension has the webRequest permission. Can intercept and modify web requests. This could potentially be used maliciously to compromise security or privacy.
MEDIUM
Medium-Risk Permission: storage
This extension has the storage permission. Can store data locally.