I’m a fan of FOSS and reasonable privacy with data. I also often look for and install software on my computers for random tasks as they come up. Today, when I was looking to install an extension to Firefox called Wikipedia-EN that helps me search Wikipedia by highlighting a word, the Mozilla page for the extension states:
This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing.
As someone that is not educated in programming or perpetually current on tech news, what can I do to assess the safety of this and other software? Is there a site that transparently evaluates software and publishes its findings?
Running any software is inherently unsafe. It’s basically the computer equivalent of eating something given to by a stranger, and you just have to trust them that it’s good for you.
But we do it anyway, simply because we have to - not all of us are software devs with unlimited time on our hands.
It basically comes down to whether you trust the origin or not, as well as check the reviews/comments to gauge the reception of other users. If something fishy is going on, word spreads relatively fast.
Tip: While no means foolproof, if the software in question has a github repo, it adds a layer of trust, because that means anyone can review the source.