BrowExt - permissions & host_permissions

👉 Overview

👀 What ?

BrowExt is a browser extension that helps manage permissions and host permissions for different websites and applications. It enhances the security of the internet browsing experience by controlling what resources a website or application can access.

🧐 Why ?

Permissions and host permissions are an important aspect of cybersecurity. They determine what resources an application or a website can access on a user's device or network. Without proper management, malicious applications or websites could potentially exploit these permissions to access sensitive data or compromise the system. Therefore, it's critical to manage these permissions effectively to protect against such threats.

⛏️ How ?

To use BrowExt, start by downloading and installing the extension from the browser's extension store. Once installed, open the extension and navigate to the permissions tab. Here, you will see a list of all the websites and applications, along with their associated permissions. You can modify these permissions as per your needs. For example, you can restrict a website from accessing your camera, microphone, or location data. Similarly, you can also manage host permissions to control what domains an application or website can interact with.

⏳ When ?

The use of permission management tools like BrowExt has become increasingly popular as internet users become more conscious about their online security. However, the concept of managing permissions and host permissions has been around since the advent of internet-connected applications and websites.

⚙️ Technical Explanations

At a technical level, BrowExt operates by interfacing with the browser's existing permissions API. It fetches the list of permissions granted to each website or application and presents it in a user-friendly format. Users can then modify these permissions, and the changes are reflected back in the API. This ensures that the browser enforces these changes when interacting with the respective websites or applications.