Extensions installed on almost 1 million devices have been overriding key security protections to turn browsers into engines that scrape websites on behalf of a paid service, a researcher said.
The 245 extensions, available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, have racked up nearly 909 million downloads, John Tuckner of SecurityAnnex reported. The extensions serve a wide range of purposes, including managing bookmarks and clipboards, boosting speaker volumes, and generating random numbers. The common thread among all of them: They incorporate MellowTel-js, an open source JavaScript library that allows developers to monetize their extensions.
Intentional weakening of browsing protections
Tuckner and critics say the monetization works by using the browser extensions to scrape websites on behalf of paying customers, which include advertisers. Tuckner reached this conclusion after uncovering close ties between MellowTel and Olostep, a company that bills itself as “the world’s most reliable and cost-effective Web scraping API.” Olostep says its service “avoids all bot detection and can parallelize up to 100K requests in minutes.” Paying customers submit the locations of browsers they want to access specific webpages. Olostep then uses its installed base of extension users to fulfill the request.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
All rights reserved to : USAGOLDMIES . www.usagoldmines.com
You can Enjoy surfing our website categories and read more content in many fields you may like .
Why USAGoldMines ?
USAGoldMines is a comprehensive website offering the latest in financial, crypto, and technical news. With specialized sections for each category, it provides readers with up-to-date market insights, investment trends, and technological advancements, making it a valuable resource for investors and enthusiasts in the fast-paced financial world.