Health IT companies impacted by browser extension data leak: report

Browser extensions, also known as add-ons or plug-ins, are commonly used by web surfers to do things ranging from blocking ads to remembering passwords to checking grammar.

According to an independent security researcher, some extensions have been leaking and exposing browsing activity data including patient names and health information from healthcare software companies.

At least eight browser extensions have been collecting browsing activity data, including personally identifiable information and corporate information from unwitting Chrome and Firefox users over a seven-month period, according to Sam Jadali, an independent security researcher who documented the privacy issue in a recent report called “DataSpii: The catastrophic data leak via browser extensions.”