Security News > 2020 > May > Google fights spammy extensions with new Chrome Web Store policy

Developers use a number of ways to breed extensions like a bunch of spam bunnies in Google's Chrome Web Store, which is the biggest extension catalog online.

User Ratings, Reviews, and Installs: Developers are forbidden from manipulating their extensions' placement in the Chrome Web Store by doing things like cooking up bogus downloads, reviews or ratings.

This is just the latest attempt to mop up the sprawling Chrome Web Store and the many ratty extensions that lurk in its aisles, some of which are not just spammy - they can also be malicious.

A few weeks ago, Google found itself sweeping out a collection of 49 malicious Chrome extensions that MyCrypto researchers had caught pickpocketing crypto wallets.

In February, Google abruptly yanked 500 Chrome extensions off its Web Store after researchers discovered they were stealing browsing data, pulling off click fraud and serving up malvertising.

News URL

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/05/01/google-fights-spammy-extensions-with-new-chrome-web-store-policy/