Matti Robinson
20 Dec 2020 13:02
The cybersecurity company Avast has released a review on web browser extensions and found out which ones might contain malware-like behavior.
The company found a total of 28 extensions for either Google's Chrome or Microsoft's Edge browsers that you should probably get rid of.
After all Avast should have plenty of experience about browser extension that need to be deleted after Mozilla pulled Avast's add-on for data collection, although they quickly met with Mozilla's guidelines.
Most of these extension redirect the user to an ad-filled page or phishing sites, which try to acquire some personal information about the user.
According to Avast, the majority of these extensions are designed for Instagram or video platforms and usually promise (and usually deliver) some kind of unofficial download function for those platforms.
Unfortunately not only do they let you download content, they also try to gain access to your attention and information.
What's more impressive about some of these malware-infused extensions is that they recognize if the user is suspicious about their behavior and can "hide itself." According to Avast it can detect if the user searches the domain in use and removes the attempts to phish.
The researchers also believe that these extensions didn't necessarily start off as malware but after gaining traction have turned to the dark side. However, needless to say that you want to remove these extensions and perhaps look for an alternative, if the function is really that important to you.
Most of these extensions are no longer available on Microsoft's and Google's stores after Avast informed the companies about their behavior.
Below is a list of infected extensions by browser.
Chrome:
Edge: