That AI Browser Extension May Be Spying on Your Business
Why fake AI assistants and unsanctioned browser add-ons are becoming a real SMB risk For many small businesses, AI adoption is happening quietly. Not through a formal technology strategy. Not through a procurement committee. Not through a carefully governed rollout. It is happening in the browser. An employee adds a writing assistant. A marketer installs a summarizer. A sales rep adds a meeting copilot. A founder tries a prompt helper. A team member installs a browser extension that promises faster research, easier drafting, cleaner replies, or better chat productivity. That is exactly why this new risk matters. Some of the most dangerous AI-related cyber risks for SMBs do not come from the AI model itself. They come from the unofficial tools people install around it. On March 5, 2026, Microsoft said malicious browser extensions impersonating AI assistant tools were harvesting LLM chat histories and browsing data from platforms including ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Microsoft s...