Almost a dozen malicious extensions with 1.7 million downloads in Google's Chrome Web Store could track users, steal browser activity, and redirect to potentially unsafe web addresses.
Most of the add-ons provide the advertised functionality and pose as legitimate tools like color pickers, VPNs, volume boosters, and emoji keyboards.
Researchers at Koi Security, a company providing a platform for security self-provisioned software, discovered the malicious extensions in Chrome Web Store and reported them to Google.
Some of the extensions are no longer present but many of them continue to be available.
Two of the Chrome extensions featuring tracking code
Source: BleepingComputer
Many of those extensions are verified, have hundreds of positive reviews, and are featured prominently on the Chrome Web Store, misleading users about their safety.
Users should check for the following add-ons in Chrome browser and remove them as soon as possible:
Color Picker, Eyedropper — Geco colorpick
Emoji keyboard online — copy&paste your emoji
... continue reading