Malicious Perplexity Chrome Extension Intercepted Searches and Address Bar Input

Microsoft has found a malicious Chrome extension that posed as the AI search engine Perplexity and quietly logged what people searched for. It routed every query and every character typed into the address bar through an attacker-controlled server before redirecting users to real results. Microsoft says Google removed it from the store after responsible disclosure. The extension was called "

Report facts: Microsoft found a malicious Chrome extension masquerading as Perplexity that intercepted searches and address-bar input, then sent queries and browser metadata to an attacker-controlled domain before forwarding users to legitimate results. Microsoft says Google removed the extension from the store after responsible disclosure. CyberSE.AI analysis: this is primarily a data leakage and trust-boundary risk for AI-branded browser tooling, because a spoofed extension can exfiltrate sensitive user intent and browsing context at scale, so extension allowlisting, publisher verification, and monitoring for search-setting changes are critical.