In a blog post published this week, McAfee researchers identified five malicious extensions that allow users to watch Netflix streams together, track deals on retail sites, and take screenshots of websites.
5 malicious extensions detected in Google Chrome
These applications, which are determined to also monitor users’ browser usage, have been removed from the Chrome Web Store after the research. It is stated that 5 applications, which are stated to secretly monitor users’ online activities, have been downloaded 1.4 million times in total.
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According to McAfee, these malicious extensions forward every page the user visits to the extension’s creator. This allowed the code to be added to e-commerce sites users visited, and the extension’s owners allowed the user to get paid for anything the user bought.
A Google spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that all five of the extensions mentioned in the McAfee report have been removed from the Chrome extension store. There are over 100,000 extensions available for Chrome alone. While Google and other providers say they’ve reviewed all the extensions available in their stores, inevitably some malicious extensions manage to sneak in.
Earlier this year, McAfee researchers spotted several fake Netflix party Chrome extensions that redirect users to phishing sites and steal users’ personal information. It was announced that only 100 thousand copies of this extension were downloaded.
Experts warn consumers to be careful with extensions and check what type of data they want to access before installing an extension. There may be many applications like these that have not yet been detected. Therefore, it is very important to thoroughly check whether an extension is malicious or not.
Although these extensions in browsers make our lives easier, some malware developers use this to their advantage. That’s why we advise you to be careful once again. So what do you think about malicious extensions? You can share your views with us in the comments section.