A highlighted Chrome extension might be duplicating your AI conversations.

      Koi Security reports that the Urban VPN Proxy extension captured AI chat interactions even when its protective features were disabled, despite claims regarding privacy in its description.

      Receiving a security warning is quite unsettling, especially when the extension promises to safeguard your privacy. According to researchers at Koi Security, the Urban VPN Proxy, a VPN extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, started logging users' conversations with AI assistants and transmitting them to a data broker.

      Urban VPN Proxy appeared trustworthy, boasting a 4.7-star rating, a featured badge from Google, and over six million installations on Chrome, with another 1.3 million on Edge. However, Koi claims that the extension's behavior shifted after a subtle update on July 9, 2025, which introduced version 5.5.0.

      Since that update, Koi alleges that the extension began to capture both user input and responses from the assistant across eight different platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok (xAI), and Meta AI.

      The report indicates that the recorded prompts and responses were compiled and sent to BiScience, the parent company of Urban Cybersecurity, which Koi characterizes as a data broker collecting extensive browsing histories and device IDs. Koi also discovered similar data harvesting codes in seven other extensions by the same publisher. If privacy remains a concern, consider reviewing the best VPN services currently available.

      The consent clause that alters everything

      Koi highlights the setup consent screen of Urban VPN Proxy, which mentions the processing of "ChatAI communication," as well as a privacy policy that describes data sharing for marketing analytics.

      Nevertheless, the reality is troubling. Extensions can automatically update on both Chrome and Edge, meaning users who installed an earlier version might have unknowingly transitioned into a chat collection mode. Koi also mentions that the store listing presented the tool as a means to keep users from entering personal information into AI chatbots, contradicting the assertion that it collected chats regardless of whether protective features were activated.

      Steps to take now

      If you utilized Urban VPN Proxy, assume that your AI chats since July 9, 2025, could be compromised. Remove the extension in Chrome by visiting chrome://extensions or in Edge at edge://extensions, and consider clearing cookies and cached data. If you have shared sensitive information, resetting your password would be a prudent measure.

      Google states that its featured badge reflects best practices and a high standard in user experience and design; however, this situation illustrates that such a label is not foolproof. The simplest yet most tedious next step is to review your extensions, remove those you do not trust, and avoid sharing the most private information in chat interfaces.

      Paulo Vargas, an English major turned reporter and technical writer, has consistently gravitated back to writing.

      Launching my first NotebookLM AI-generated podcast taught me a crucial lesson to avoid.

      How to create a podcast using Google’s NotebookLM

      It all began as a lighthearted idea. I asked a friend, "What if I started a podcast where I talk to artificial intelligence bots, pretending to be engaged in the conversation?" This was several months ago, before I discovered Google offers an AI tool named NotebookLM, which allows real-time conversations with two human-sounding hosts. In interactive mode, you can join the podcast and ask questions at any time. The bots pause to acknowledge you as a “listener” and then engage with your comments.

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