How to Make Sure Your Honey Browser Extension is Safe to Use?
If you are a fan of online shopping as well as saving time and money with promo codes, vouchers, and discounts, you have probably heard of the popular browser extension called Honey. We are here today to clear the air about whether the Honey browser extension is safe for you to use or not. There are obvious security and privacy concerns since this extension can read and change data from your browsers, which might be misused in the wrong hands. At least, this is what these concerned users may be afraid of. Our first tip is to install a reliable password manager like the free Cyclonis browser extension to keep all your login details encrypted and safe. But let us tell you more about what sort of security measures you may need to use this browser extension safely.
How sweet is this Honey, or is the Honey browser extension safe?
The Honey browser extension can automatically find and apply coupon codes for online shoppers during checkout. This tool helps joined members find deals from over 20,000 stores, including Amazon. This extension is available for the most popular browsers, such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. The supported shopping sites mainly come from the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and India, but there are other sites, too, that serve global customers.
There are almost 8 million users who have installed the Honey browser extension as per the current statistics in the Chrome web store. Since there are over 90 thousand reviews there, you can certainly find out if it is the extension you can trust or not. It is claimed that you can save around $32 monthly on the average, which adds up to approximately $400 a year. But, of course, there are users who complain that they cannot find any discounts with the Honey browser extension or sometimes the discount by Honey is a worse deal than they could get otherwise. Nevertheless, this is a free browser extension, so you do not have anything to lose to give it a try; or, do you?
Main concerns revealed
There are two main concerns we would like to mention here for consideration. First of all, before you can install the Honey browser extension, the usual permission pop-up comes up at the top of your screen. We advise you to always read the information in this pop-up carefully so that you are fully aware what kinds of permissions you are granting. For example, in this case, this tool wants to "read and change all your data on the websites you visit." Now, this is probably the most widely used permission such extensions can ask for.
It is important to be aware that you should always read the privacy policy, which is essential whenever you want to install any free or paid software. From this legal document, you can get an idea of what kind of data is collected and how it is used. Some extensions may disclose that they actually may sell your information to third parties, which gives you a reason to worry. We must mention, though, that the founders of the Honey browser extension explicitly state that they do not share any data with third parties even if they have been approached by certain advertising companies.
Second of all, for you to be able to use this browser extension fully, you need to join as a member with either your Facebook or an email account. If you tend to use weak passwords, it is always risky to use them with any registration or sign-up form. This is why it is best to use a password manager like the Cyclonis browser extension so that you can store your login information encrypted and also generate very strong random passwords.
Final verdict
Although normally, an extension that can read and change your data on the websites you visit should concern you, we can conclude that the Honey browser extension is safe for you to use as long as you take security precautions. If you want it to work properly, though, you need to include this tool in the whitelist for your adblockers because they may disable the pop-up so that you could miss out on some great deals on certain websites.
Generally speaking, there could be more serious threats for you to consider. If you want to make sure that your Honey browser extension is safe and you can surf the online shops securely without fearing to get compromised in any way, it is recommended that you use antivirus software. This way, you can see whether there are any adware or other types of infections on board, which may put you at risk of being exposed to malicious web content and hijacked legitimate ads, coupons, and so on. It is also advisable to stay away from suspicious websites if you want to be on the safe side. If you combine these measures with the use of the Cyclonis browser extension, you just got yourself a proper virtual security system that should give you peace of mind whenever you go online.
