Can I use Sidebery for home banking (passwords, etc.) safely/without any security concern?

[riveravaldez]

Hi, sorry if this is a somewhat ignorant question, I'm absolutely amazed about what Sidebery can do, seems like a dream come true..., but I tend to avoid all kind of extensions/add-ons in order to minimize any security/privacy risk, specially since this is the browser I use for financia job, home banking, etc.
Is there any risk in add Sidebery to this browser for such use?
Should I have something in mind?
How can I check these things?
Any help, comment or hint would be most welcomed.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Kind regards.

[JohnVKRDam]

Hi,

Sidebery is indeed absolutely AWESOME 👍

And I think it is very wise to be wary of extensions, especially when using your browser for banking and similarly sensitive tasks. There are a LOT of extensions that simply are NOT to be trusted. Especially the ones that require you to enable the access permission "Access Your data for All Websites"

That said, Sidebery is safe to use 👍

As an extra precaution, make sure that the Access Permission for "Access Your data for All Websites" is DISABLED. That permission is the one that would allow an extension to read ALL data from ALL webpages you open, including usernames and passwords.

If you disable this permission it does mean certain options may not be available / work. But to be honest, to this day I have not run into any option that didn't work, and I have had this permission disabled right from the moment I installed Sidebery many years ago. So, I do not think they are required for normal usage. If the permission is needed for a specific option, I think Sidebery will ask if you want to enable it (not 100% sure about that, though).

Additionally, the source code for Sidebery is available for download in the Releases section (https://github.com/mbnuqw/sidebery/releases), so you could check for yourself if there is anything unethical going on. But, I can understand that this may be a little bit too much to ask from an end-user, as it requires a fair bit of specific coding knowledge.

In any case, Sidebery is a safe extension. I have been using it for many years without issue 👍

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p.s.
For those that don't know, you can check & change these Sidebery permissions. Here's how to do it in Firefox:

• Type Ctrl + Shift + A to open Add-ons and Themes (unless you have reconfigured that keystroke for something else)
  OR
• Go to the Application Menu (top-right, three bars menu button)
• Select Add-ons and Themes

THEN

• Click on the Sidebery entry in the installed extensions to view properties

• Click the "Permissions" link at the top
  

• There you can enable / disable the permissions for Sidebery
  

[riveravaldez]

Thanks a lot, @JohnVKRDam ! 🥳
Your answer is certainly a very elaborated one. I'm really thankful for the quality of your explanations. 🤗
I will wait a little before marking this as an answered question just in case someone can provide a more technical description (like how or where in the source code could someone check this kind of stuff, etc.).
Kind regards! ❤️

[riveravaldez]

FWIW, I've found another source of information on this issue, because Sidebery (amazing as it is, I want to keep mentioning this 💘 ) belongs to the Mozilla Firefox Recommended Extensions program in which page it's established that:

Is the extension safe? Firefox is committed to helping protect you against third-party software that may inadvertently compromise your data – or worse – breach your privacy with malicious intent. Before an extension receives Recommended status, it undergoes rigorous technical review by staff security experts.

Is the extension actively developed? Developers of Recommended extensions must maintain their content to ensure it evolves with the needs of Firefox users.

So, I guess this adds up in terms of confidence for the users... 👍🏾