Расширение Urban VPN Proxy в Chrome собирало личные данные пользователей под предлогом бесплатного сервиса Headline: Chrome Extension Urban VPN Proxy Collected Personal User Data Under the Guise of a Free Service

An Israeli security company named Koi has uncovered a wide-ranging data collection operation conducted via a free Google Chrome browser extension.

At the time of the investigation, the Urban VPN Proxy service boasted around six million users and even held a «recommended» badge in the Chrome Web Store.

However, beyond providing the standard service of creating an encrypted connection between the device and the internet, the extension was also capturing conversations with leading AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Grok.

According to expert Idan Dardikman, the service aimed to gather every possible piece of information, including «medical inquiries, financial details, proprietary code, and personal dilemmas.»

Urban VPN Proxy collected data irrespective of the VPN’s operation—in real-time. The script was activated by default, meaning it initiated as soon as the application was downloaded.

Moreover, there was no option to disable the feature. The sole way to stop the data collection was to uninstall the extension.

As of December 19, Urban VPN Proxy has been removed from the Google app store.

The company behind Urban VPN Proxy, Urban Cyber Security, did not hide the fact that it collected data—this was outlined in its privacy policy:

«We share web browsing data with our affiliate, a data broker named BiScience, which utilizes this information to create analytical reports for further commercial use and to pass on to business partners.»

At the same time, the page for Urban VPN Proxy in the Chrome Web Store stated that «user data is not sold to third parties, except in approved use cases.» They also claimed that the data was «not used for purposes unrelated to the core functionality of the product.»

Forbes has identified seven additional applications from the same publisher, each with over two million users. Each of these applications features identical data collection functions utilizing AI. Six of them are marked as «recommended» by Google.

Dardikman advises users to remove extensions from the Chrome Web Store:

In Microsoft Edge Add-ons:

If a user has installed at least one of these applications, all their conversations since July 2025 have been recorded and transmitted to third parties, the expert noted.

Dardikman also suggested that users develop the habit of reading user agreements to uncover similar permissions for data collection.

As a reminder, in November, security experts discovered a malicious extension for Google Chrome called Crypto Copilot, which siphons hidden fees during cryptocurrency trading.