Google's poor curation led to fake ad-blockers in Chrome
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Google is taking down fake ad blockers from the Chrome Web Store in response to reports that these extensions were fake.
An AdGuard researcher found that 5 ad-blocking extensions on the Chrome Web store were fake, they were malicious extensions which duplicated real ad blockers but added their own malicious javascript and tracking code to the browsers.
“With the current state of things, surfing through the Chrome’s Web Store is like walking through a minefield. So here’s my advice: if you want to install an extension, think twice. And then think twice again.” AdGuard warned users in their bliog post,”Ok, I got it, you absolutely need this extension. At least do one thing: check who is the author of this extension. Do not install it if you don’t trust the author. Please note, that at some point the extension can be sold to someone else”
While Google removed the extensions highlighted in this post, they had already accrued 20 million users at this point. The firm needs to take a more active hand in curating its store, lest users lose faith in the Chrome browser extension platform. In that aspect at the least, Microsoft is superior.
