Security researchers uncovered eight Chromium extensions with over 8 million installs that harvest full AI conversations and ship them to marketers. The extensions—listed in both the Chrome Web Store and the Edge Add-ons store—pair free features like VPN routing and ad blocking with assurances that user data remains anonymous, while seven of the eight carry Featured badges.
An in-depth review of the extensions’ code shows a more troubling behavior. Each package embeds eight “executor” scripts, tailored to major AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. These scripts inject into pages and override typical network calls (like fetch and HttpRequest), directing all AI traffic through the extension rather than browser APIs.
According to security firm Koi, the extensions compress and transmit harvested data to endpoints controlled by the extension maker. “By overriding the browser APIs, the extension inserts itself into that flow and captures a copy of everything before the page even displays it,” said Idan Dardikman, Koi’s CTO. “The consequence: your full conversation—prompts, responses, timestamps, and more—ends up on the developer’s servers.”
The investigation highlights how Urban VPN Proxy began the data harvesting in July 2025, starting with version 5.5.0. The activity extends to several other Urban-branded extensions, including variants listed in Chrome’s Web Store and Edge’s add-on catalog.
Aggregate install figures show a wide footprint: Chrome extensions include Urban VPN Proxy (about 6 million users), 1ClickVPN Proxy (roughly 600,000), Urban Browser Guard (around 40,000), and Urban Ad Blocker (about 10,000). Edge add-ons total roughly 1.32 million for Urban VPN Proxy, around 36,000 for 1ClickVPN Proxy, about 12,600 for Urban Browser Guard, and roughly 6,500 for Urban Ad Blocker.
Urban Cyber Security, which develops the eight extensions, oversees privacy policies that tie data sharing to affiliated entities BiScience and others. Audiences are warned that data may be used for marketing analytics, even as the extensions promise anonymous handling. The episode raises questions about platform endorsement and user awareness of what data is captured during AI chats.
The only explicit mention of AI conversations being harvested is in privacy policy language included with Urban VPN Proxy, though researchers say the data collection predates some policy disclosures. Koi recommends users remove or disable these extensions to curb potential data leakage and urged Google and Microsoft to re-evaluate the featured endorsements on affected listings.”
