Google has removed over 500 malicious Chrome extensions from its Web Store following an investigation by a security researcher and Cisco’s Duo Security.
After a two-month investigation, security researcher Jamila Kaya, in collaboration with Cisco’s Duo Security team, identified hundreds of extensions active on hundreds of thousands of Chrome installations that are injecting malicious ads within browsing sessions.
The extensions were part of a huge malware operation, active for at least two years or more, injecting conditionally-activated malicious code and redirecting users to specific sites. In many cases, the sites were actually legitimate, but some destinations were phishing pages, or pages containing malware.
According to the Duo Security report, the browser extension fraud network affected millions of users, and the group behind it was probably active since the early 2010s. To uncover it, independent security researcher Jamila Kaya used CRXcavator – an automated Chrome extension security assessment tool released by Cisco’s Duo Security engineers.
Google responded swiftly to the report and validated findings before fingerprinting the extensions that were identified.
This also allowed its teams to search the full Chrome Web Store and discover more than 500 related extensions.
“We appreciate the work of the research community, and when we are alerted of extensions in the Web Store that violate our policies, we take action and use those incidents as training material to improve our automated and manual analyses,” said a Google spokesperson.
“We do regular sweeps to find extensions using similar techniques, code, and behaviors, and take down those extensions if they violate our policies.”
You might also like
More from Google
Google Maps Rolls Out New Street-Level Details In Four Cities
Google Maps announced it's rolling out street-level details - like crosswalks, sidewalks, and more, in four major global cities.
Google Now Has A Guest Mode On Its Smart Speakers
The new Guest Mode on Google Smart Speakers limits access to your persona data like your calendar and won't save …
Google Brings Smart Compose And Autocorrect To Comments In Docs
To help users write comments quickly, Smart Compose and autocorrect are now available when adding comments in Google Docs.
Google Tests Adding TikTok And Instagram Videos To Search Results On Mobile
Google is testing a new feature that will bring TikTok and Instagram videos into a carousel at the top of …
Google Adds Subscriptions Page To The Google Store
Google is using the Google Store to promote its various subscriptions, with a new dedicated page.
Google Lets Users Try On Makeup In AR
Google is launching a new AR-powered feature that lets users try on makeup and lipstick on its app.
Google Meet Adds Live Captions In Four New Languages
Google is rolling out live caption support in Google Meets in four new languages: French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Google Is Testing Dark Mode In Desktop Search
According to reports, Google is testing a new dark mode in its desktop search experience.
Google Brings Messaging And Customer Insights To Google Maps And Search
Google is bringing messaging capabilities and customer insights on Google Maps and Search to help businesses answer questions from the …