Fake adblockers in chrome web store
Fake programs exist in every space of computing, related to that AdGuard, the world’s most advanced adblocker, reveal more than 20 million users fooled by fake adblockers in chrome web store.
This malicious software simply copied code from real ad blockers and then added a few lines to them. Even though, least fake adblocker has nearly 30000 users. The fake ad blockers, include AdRemover for Google Chrome, uBlock Plus, Adblock Pro HD for YouTube, Webutation.
Adblock malicious code
While, AdGuard release a report that explains, AdRemover, which had over 10 million users it covers malicious code in a JavaScript library (jQuery), which sent back information about any user activity. The extension also received commands from its remote server, and these commands could change the browser behavior in any way.
While, Google Chrome is a major operator of adblock growth. Around 20% of users found ad blocking when browsing through available browser extensions. The fake extensions used names and keywords such that they showed up over the search results. Many a times, that is enough for casual users to choose them.
So, if you want to install an AdBlock extension, check the background of the extension and don’t install it if you don’t trust the author.
The availability of these software on Google Chrome webstore for an unknown amount of time, their presence at the top of search results and the millions of downloads point to a care on the part of the company is checking for malicious extensions.
