Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

usonian

(13,786 posts)
Wed May 31, 2023, 10:40 AM May 2023

More malicious extensions in Chrome Web Store

https://palant.info/2023/05/31/more-malicious-extensions-in-chrome-web-store/
Two weeks ago I wrote about the PDF Toolbox extension containing obfuscated malicious code. Despite reporting the issue to Google via two different channels, the extension remains online. It even gained a considerable number of users after I published my article.

A reader tipped me off however that the Zoom Plus extension also makes a request to serasearchtop[.]com. I checked it out and found two other versions of the same malicious code. And I found more extensions in Chrome Web Store which are using it.

So now we are at 18 malicious extensions with a combined user count of 55 million. The most popular of these extensions are Autoskip for Youtube, Crystal Ad block and Brisk VPN: nine, six and five million users respectively.

...

Mind you: just because these extensions monetized by redirecting search pages two years ago, it doesn’t mean that they still limit themselves to it now. There are way more dangerous things one can do with the power to inject arbitrary JavaScript code into each and every website.


What's going on.


Google doesn't check chrome extensions for malware. Matter of fact the author says that he has never heard about the “Report abuse” link in Chrome Web Store producing any result

See the list at the above URL for 18 known bad extensions.
No doubt, there are more.
BTW, Opera Browser uses the Chrome engine and takes the same extensions.


1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
More malicious extensions in Chrome Web Store (Original Post) usonian May 2023 OP
Thank you!!!! Nittersing May 2023 #1

Nittersing

(6,849 posts)
1. Thank you!!!!
Wed May 31, 2023, 04:46 PM
May 2023

I use Google search all the time and just recently it started redirecting me to amazon or bing...

I have an Adobe PDF extension that I just disabled and I think that did the trick!!!

Latest Discussions»Help & Search»Computer Help and Support»More malicious extensions...