Whether you have been using an Apple Mac or a Windows PC, the most popular web browser is Google Chrome. This web browser has been on the top of the list for many years. One of the reasons why it is the favorite web browser for millions of people all over the world because it offers a large number of extensions.
When you install an extension in the Google Chrome web browser, that extension could have permissions to access the websites and their content. But how would you know when and how a Chrome extension has been accessing the network? For monitoring the network activity of other Chrome extensions, we can use yet another extension called Little Rat.
The Little Rat extension is being offered in two editions. The first Lite edition of this extension is available from the Chrome web extension store. This extension shows you all the installed Chrome extensions and their network calls. For example, in the following screenshot you can see that an extension is using GET HTTP call to fetch some online resources.
The second edition of the Little Rat extension is available through its GitHub webpage. This extension uses some API calls which are not permitted from the Google Chrome Web Store. But because of this extra feature, we are able to not only monitor the network calls, but also block them if needed.
When it finds that an extension has made a network call, it shows the counter of calls being made in its icon displayed in the toolbar of the Google Chrome web browser. We can instantly know that some extension has made a network call and is trying to access the Internet.
Like many of the other extensions for Chrome browser, it also works for the other Chromium based web browsers.
You can get the Little Rat extension for the Google Chrome web browser from https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/little-rat/oiopkpalpilladnibecobcecijffaflf.