Extension privacy policy
What the SafeOrNah extension sends and when. The sites you visit never leave your browser, only an analysis you start sends a link.
In short
The SafeOrNah extension for Chrome and Firefox warns you before a dangerous site, shows the score of the page you visit and marks the risky links of your emails.
The sites you visit and the links you read never leave your browser. The extension compares them with a list it keeps on your device. A full address only leaves when you click "Analyze". Two settings you turn on yourself, the strict mode and the notice of the sites not analyzed yet, look up the pages you open with the start of a fingerprint, never their address.
No ads, no data sold. The only statistics are totals of warnings, without any address, and you can turn them off.
Sent without you doing anything
Every 30 minutes, and when you open its window if its last check is more than 5 minutes old, the extension downloads from our server:
- the rules that recognize the shared platforms and the tracking parameters;
- the list of the links and sites known to be dangerous, the same for everyone. It holds fingerprints of the links and sites, and the names of the dangerous sites to block in plain text, because your browser needs them to stop a page before it loads.
These requests carry no cookie, no key and no address of a page you visit.
Sent when you check a link
When you open the extension on a page, choose "Check this link" in the right-click menu, type a link in the extension, or ask for the full report from a warning page, the extension sends the first characters (1 to 6) of a fingerprint of the cleaned address (SHA-256), never the address itself.
Our server answers with every analysis whose fingerprint starts the same way, up to 16 on average, plus decoys, so that there are never fewer than 8 entries in all. Each one is encrypted with a key that only someone who already knows its address can compute. The extension opens the one that matches your page, the others stay unreadable.
This request carries no cookie and no key either, so nothing in it identifies your account, and we never link it to one.
When you ask for the details of a link the list only knows by its site, the extension opens the page of that site on SafeOrNah in a tab, with its domain name (for example loro.ch), never the address of the link.
Sent while you browse, if you turn it on
Two settings, off by default, make the extension look up the pages you open without a click. One is the strict mode, which stops the sites nobody analyzed yet, the other the notice of the sites not analyzed yet. Their settings say so, and the strict mode is marked as not recommended.
With one of them on, each page you open is looked up like a check, with the first characters of a fingerprint of its address, then of the home pages of its site. These requests carry no cookie, no key and never the address itself.
In strict mode, analyzing a stopped site uses your quota like any analysis started from the extension. Going on without an analysis, allowing a site or pausing the protection sends nothing.
Sent when you analyze
A full address only leaves your browser when you click "Analyze", or choose "Analyze this site with SafeOrNah" in the right-click menu.
- With your account connected, the extension sends the address with your device key. The analysis then joins your history like on the site and counts against your quota. While it runs, the extension asks for its progress with your key, and your browser notifies you at the end, without any third-party service.
- Without an account, "Analyze on the site" opens SafeOrNah in a tab with the address. Nothing starts until you click.
The analysis then follows the privacy policy of the site. It says which security services receive the address.
When you open the extension while connected, it also asks for your name and your quota with your key, without the address of the page.
The count of dangerous sites avoided
To know how many times it kept you away from a dangerous site, the extension counts on your device the warning pages it shows (Nah or Meh) and what you do with them: going back or continuing anyway. Reloading the page does not count a second time.
At most once a day, and not before a day after the first warning, it sends only these six totals, for example "3 Nah warnings, 2 went back". Never the address of a site, nor your key, nor the installation code, nor a cookie. Our server adds them to everyone's totals of the day, without keeping your request, so a total cannot be tied to a person or to a visit.
It is on by default, because these totals say nothing about you. You can turn it off on the first page of the extension or at any time in its settings ("Count the dangerous sites avoided"). The totals not sent yet are then erased from your device.
Connecting your account
You connect the extension from one of its pages, through the site, where you sign in as usual and agree. The extension sends a random installation code, created at install time, and the site deduces your browser (Chrome or Firefox) from the return address.
The site then gives the extension a code, valid 5 minutes and only once, that it exchanges for a device key. We keep this key only as a fingerprint, with its name (Chrome or Firefox), the installation code, its creation date and its last use. A new connection from the same installation replaces the previous key.
The key stays in the storage of the extension, in your browser. It is never shown to web pages.
In your webmail
In Gmail and Outlook, when this option is on, the extension reads the links of the message you open, on your device, and compares them with its list. Nothing leaves your browser. A link only goes further if you check it or analyze it yourself.
The option to mark the links of every site works the same way.
What stays on your device
- your settings;
- the verdicts of the pages you checked, kept 7 days, under the fingerprint of their address;
- in strict mode, the sites it let through after a check or an analysis, kept 7 days, under a fingerprint of their name;
- the end of a pause of the protection, when you paused it;
- the totals of warnings not sent yet, when the count is on;
- the list of dangerous links and sites;
- your device key and the installation code.
You can clear the remembered verdicts from the settings of the extension. Removing the extension clears everything on your device. Your device key then stays on our side until you remove it from your settings, or for 180 days.
What our host can see
Like any request, those of the extension reach our host, Laravel Cloud, and its network (Cloudflare), with your IP address, the name of your browser and the requested address. For a check, this address holds the first characters of the fingerprint, never the address of your page.
Our application does not write these requests in its logs nor in its monitoring. It only counts them per address for one minute, to block abuse, and keeps the answer to a group for 5 minutes in its cache, the same for everyone, with no trace of who asked.
The access logs of our host, which hold your IP address and the requested address, are erased after 30 days at most.
How long we keep data
- The connection code expires after 5 minutes, works only once, and is deleted a day later.
- A device key goes away when you sign out in the extension, when you remove it from your settings, or after 180 days without use. It also goes with your account.
- An analysis you start is kept like any other analysis, as the privacy policy of the site describes.
- The totals of warnings join the statistics of the day, without personal data, kept for 25 months then erased.
What we never do
The extension sends no statistics besides the totals of warnings described above, and contains no ads. We do not sell your data and do not transfer it, except the address of an analysis you start to the security services listed in the privacy policy of the site.
The use of the data the extension handles complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. It only serves to warn you about dangerous links and sites, it is never used for advertising or to assess creditworthiness, and no one reads it except to fight abuse, to comply with the law or at your request.
In Firefox
Firefox lists at install time the data an extension may send. Browsing activity, meaning the start of a fingerprint of a page you check and the address of a page you analyze, is optional. The extension asks for your agreement on its first page, along with the other permissions, and you can take it back in its settings ("Online checks"). Without it, it sends nothing about the pages you open, and it still warns you from its local list. The strict mode and the notice of the sites not analyzed yet ask for it when you turn them on.
The count of dangerous sites avoided is technical and interaction data. Firefox ticks it by default at install time, and you can untick it then, on the first page of the extension, in its settings or in the Firefox add-ons manager.
Questions
For anything about your data, write to us at contact@safeornah.app or with the contact form. The privacy policy of the site covers your account and your analyses.