MILLIONS are being warned to delete dozens of dangerous Google Chrome extensions that are attempting to infect devices with malicious malware.
The hostile extensions were first spotted by security blogger Wladimir Palant and later confirmed by researchers with Avast.
Earlier this month, Palant found a total of 34 of malicious extensions impacting a massive 87 million users.
These extensions appeared under the guise of a variety of functions, such as ad blockers, browser themes, tab managers, and more.
By offering these legitimate capabilities, cyber criminals are more easily able to download malicious malware onto victims’ devices undetected.
While some malicious softwares seek to access personal information or hack into accounts, this malware appeared to be creating functional issues for the victims.
Read More on Cyber Security
Some found that the extensions weren’t being fully developed, while others found their search results being diverted to another website.
“So it would seem that at least back in 2021 (yes, almost two years ago) the monetization approach of this extension was redirecting search pages,” Palant explained.
After being reviewed by Avast – which has a history of reporting malicious apps and extensions – Google took action, removing the extensions flagged.
By June 3, all 34 extensions were removed from the Chrome Web Store, according to Palant.
While they can no longer be downloaded in the web store, there may still be a chance the malicious extension is still activated on your computer.
If so, be sure to remove and uninstall immediately.
Here is the complete list of the malicious extensions found:
- Autoskip for Youtube
- Soundboost
- Crystal Ad block
- Brisk VPN
- Clipboard Helper
- Maxi Refresher
- Quick Translation
- Easyview Reader view
- PDF toolbox
- Epsilon Ad blocker
- Craft Cursors
- Alfablocker ad blocker
- Zoom Plus
- Base Image Downloader
- Clickish fun cursors
- Cursor – A custom cursor
- Amazing Dark Mode
- Maximum Color Changer for Youtube
- Awesome Auto Refresh
- Venus Adblock
- Adblock Dragon
- Readl Reader mode
- Volume Frenzy
- Image download center
- Font Customizer
- Easy Undo Closed Tabs
- Screence screen recorder
- OneCleaner
- Repeat button
- Leap Video Downloader
- Tap Image Downloader
- Qspeed Video Speed Controller
- HyperVolume
- Light picture-in-picture
While this scheme appears to have impacted tens of millions of people, Avast revealed that there is reason to believe the number of installations was altered to increase downloads.
The researchers said that was based on the fact that was a “suspiciously low” amount of reviews for these extensions on the Chrome Web Store.
Additionally, they found that “the number of people who encountered the threat isn’t proportional to the number of installs” listed.
