Fake PDF and search tools hijacked searches for 13.4 million Chrome users
Source: Malwarebytes Labs
At a glance
Ads promoted browser extensions as tools to find manuals, convert PDFs, or make searches safer. But many of these extensions sent users’ search queries through servers controlled by their operators. Socket researcher John Tuckner identified 319 extensions with an estimated 13.4 million installs over a decade. The extensions hijacked users’ default search settings and routed their searches through servers controlled by the operators before sending them to Yahoo or Bing. This gave the operators access to users’ queries and let them earn referral payments. Socket says the extensions were promote…