Extension Banned for Stealing AI Chats Returns to Chrome Store, Resumes Malicious Activities
A Chrome extension that Google pulled from its store in January 2026 over conversation-theft allegations is back in circulation and reaching enterprise browsers again through Google’s own CRX distribution infrastructure, according to Netskope Threat Labs.
The extension is named ‘AI Sidebar with DeepSeek, ChatGPT, Claude and more’ and is advertised as an AI assistant for Chrome. OX Security flagged it in December 2025 for scraping ChatGPT and DeepSeek conversation content and sending it to external domains. Prior to its removal, the extension amassed over 300,000 installs and a 4.6-star rating on the Chrome Web Store.
The malicious behavior disappeared from later builds, and the extension’s privacy policy now references the earlier conduct. But the reprieve was temporary. As of August 2026, the extension is active on the Chrome Web Store again, and Netskope says enterprise endpoints are currently receiving updates carrying a different kind of payload.
Version 1.7.2.0, distributed between...
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