Search results for add-chrome-extensions-microsoft-edge | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

A threat actor known as ShadyPanda has been linked to a seven-year-long browser extension campaign that has amassed over 4.3 million installations over time. Five of these extensions started off as legitimate programs before malicious changes were introduced in mid-2024, according to a report from Koi Security, attracting 300,000 installs. These extensions have since been taken down. "These extensions now run hourly remote code execution – downloading and executing arbitrary JavaScript with full browser access," security researcher Tuval Admoni said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "They monitor every website visit, exfiltrate encrypted browsing history, and collect complete browser fingerprints." To make matters worse, one of the extensions, Clean Master, was featured and verified by Google at one point. This trust-building exercise allowed the attackers to expand their user base and silently issue malicious updates years later without attracting any...

A Google Chrome extension with a "Featured" badge and six million users has been observed silently gathering every prompt entered by users into artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots like OpenAI ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, Meta AI, and Perplexity. The extension in question is Urban VPN Proxy , which has a 4.7 rating on the Google Chrome Web Store. It's advertised as the "best secured Free VPN access to any website, and unblock content." Its developer is a Delaware-based company named Urban Cyber Security Inc . On the Microsoft Edge Add-ons marketplace, it has 1.3 million installations .  Despite claiming that it allows users to "protect your online identity, stay protected, and hide your IP," an update was pushed to users on July 9, 2025, when version 5.5.0 was released with the AI data harvesting enabled by default using hard-coded settings. Specifically, this is achieved by means of a t...

The threat actor behind two malicious browser extension campaigns, ShadyPanda and GhostPoster , has been attributed to a third attack campaign codenamed DarkSpectre that has impacted 2.2 million users of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. The activity is assessed to be the work of a Chinese threat actor that Koi Security is tracking under the moniker DarkSpectre . In all, the campaigns have collectively affected over 8.8 million users spanning a period of more than seven years. ShadyPanda was first unmasked by the cybersecurity company earlier this month as targeting all three browser users to facilitate data theft, search query hijacking, and affiliate fraud. It has been found to affect 5.6 million users, including 1.3 newly identified victims stemming from over 100 extensions flagged as connected to the same cluster. This also includes an Edge add-on named "New Tab - Customized Dashboard" that features a logic bomb that waits for three days prior to t...

An ongoing, widespread malware campaign has been observed installing rogue Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extensions via a trojan distributed via fake websites masquerading as popular software. "The trojan malware contains different deliverables ranging from simple adware extensions that hijack searches to more sophisticated malicious scripts that deliver local extensions to steal private data and execute various commands," the ReasonLabs research team said in an analysis. "This trojan malware, existing since 2021, originates from imitations of download websites with add-ons to online games and videos." The malware and the extensions have a combined reach of at least 300,000 users of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, indicating that the activity has a broad impact. At the heart of the campaign is the use of malvertising to push lookalike websites promoting known software like Roblox FPS Unlocker, YouTube, VLC media player, Steam, or KeePass to trick users s...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered two new malicious extensions on the Chrome Web Store that are designed to exfiltrate OpenAI ChatGPT and DeepSeek conversations alongside browsing data to servers under the attackers' control. The names of the extensions, which collectively have over 900,000 users, are below - Chat GPT for Chrome with GPT-5, Claude Sonnet & DeepSeek AI (ID: fnmihdojmnkclgjpcoonokmkhjpjechg, 600,000 users) AI Sidebar with Deepseek, ChatGPT, Claude, and more. (ID: inhcgfpbfdjbjogdfjbclgolkmhnooop, 300,000 users) The findings come weeks after Urban VPN Proxy , another extension with millions of installations on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, was caught spying on users' chats with artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. This tactic of using browser extensions to stealthily capture AI conversations has been codenamed Prompt Poaching by Secure Annex. The two newly identified extensions "were found exfiltrating user conversations and all ...

A highly critical vulnerability has been discovered in the Cisco Systems' WebEx browser extension for Chrome and Firefox, for the second time in this year, which could allow attackers to remotely execute malicious code on a victim's computer. Cisco WebEx is a popular communication tool for online events, including meetings, webinars and video conferences that help users connect and collaborate with colleagues around the world. The extension has roughly 20 million active users. Discovered by Tavis Ormandy of Google Project Zero and Cris Neckar of Divergent Security, the remote code execution flaw (CVE-2017-6753) is due to a designing defect in the WebEx browser extension. To exploit the vulnerability, all an attacker need to do is trick victims into visiting a web page containing specially crafted malicious code through the browser with affected extension installed. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in the attacker executing arbitrary code with th...

In early December 2025, security researchers exposed a cybercrime campaign that had quietly hijacked popular Chrome and Edge browser extensions on a massive scale. A threat group dubbed ShadyPanda spent seven years playing the long game, publishing or acquiring harmless extensions, letting them run clean for years to build trust and gain millions of installs, then suddenly flipping them into malware via silent updates. In total, about 4.3 million users installed these once-legitimate add-ons, which suddenly went rogue with spyware and backdoor capabilities. This tactic was essentially a browser extension supply-chain attack. The ShadyPanda operators even earned featured and verified badges in the official Chrome Web Store and Microsoft Edge Add-ons site for some extensions, reinforcing user confidence. Because extension updates happen automatically in the background, the attackers were able to push out malicious code without users noticing a thing. Once activated in mid-2024, the...

Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated a novel technique that allows a malicious web browser extension to impersonate any installed add-on. "The polymorphic extensions create a pixel perfect replica of the target's icon, HTML popup, workflows and even temporarily disables the legitimate extension, making it extremely convincing for victims to believe that they are providing credentials to the real extension," SquareX said in a report published last week. The harvested credentials could then be abused by the threat actors to hijack online accounts and gain unauthorized access to sensitive personal and financial information. The attack affects all Chromium-based web browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and others. The approach banks on the fact that users commonly pin extensions to the browser's toolbar. In a hypothetical attack scenario, threat actors could publish a polymorphic extension to the Chrome Web Store (or any extension m...

From unpatched cars to hijacked clouds, this week's Threatsday headlines remind us of one thing — no corner of technology is safe. Attackers are scanning firewalls for critical flaws, bending vulnerable SQL servers into powerful command centers, and even finding ways to poison Chrome's settings to sneak in malicious extensions. On the defense side, AI is stepping up to block ransomware in real time, but privacy fights over data access and surveillance are heating up just as fast. It's a week that shows how wide the battlefield has become — from the apps on our phones to the cars we drive. Don't keep this knowledge to yourself: share this bulletin to protect others, and add The Hacker News to your Google News list so you never miss the updates that could make the difference. Claude Now Finds Your Bugs Anthropic Touts Safety Protections Built Into Claude Sonnet 4.6 Anthropic said it has rolled out a number of safety and security improve...

This week, a 23-year-old Serbian activist found themselves at the crossroads of digital danger when a sneaky zero-day exploit turned their Android device into a target. Meanwhile, Microsoft pulled back the curtain on a scheme where cybercriminals used AI tools for harmful pranks, and a massive trove of live secrets was discovered, reminding us that even the tools we rely on can hide risky surprises. We've sifted through a storm of cyber threats—from phishing scams to malware attacks—and broken down what it means for you in clear, everyday language. Get ready to dive into the details, understand the risks, and learn how to protect yourself in an increasingly unpredictable online world. ⚡ Threat of the Week Serbian Youth Activist Targeted by Android 0-Day Exploit Chain — A 23-year-old Serbian youth activist had their Android phone targeted by a zero-day exploit chain developed by Cellebrite to unlock the device and likely deploy an Android spyware called NoviSpy. The flaws combined ...

New details have emerged about a vast network of rogue extensions for Chrome and Edge browsers that were found to hijack clicks to links in search results pages to arbitrary URLs, including phishing sites and ads. Collectively called " CacheFlow " by Avast, the 28 extensions in question — including Video Downloader for Facebook, Vimeo Video Downloader, Instagram Story Downloader, VK Unblock — made use of a sneaky trick to mask its true purpose: Leverage  Cache-Control  HTTP header as a covert channel to retrieve commands from an attacker-controlled server. All the  backdoored browser add-ons  have been taken down by Google and Microsoft as of December 18, 2020, to prevent more users from downloading them from the official stores. According to telemetry data gathered by the firm, the top three infected countries were Brazil, Ukraine, and France, followed by Argentina, Spain, Russia, and the U.S. The CacheFlow sequence began when unsuspecting users downloaded on...

A new campaign named GhostPoster has leveraged logo files associated with 17 Mozilla Firefox browser add-ons to embed malicious JavaScript code designed to hijack affiliate links, inject tracking code, and commit click and ad fraud. The extensions have been collectively downloaded over 50,000 times, according to Koi Security, which discovered the campaign. The add-ons are no longer available. These browser programs were advertised as VPNs, screenshot utilities, ad blockers, and unofficial versions of Google Translate. The oldest add-on, Dark Mode, was published on October 25, 2024, offering the ability to enable a dark theme for all websites. The full list of the browser add-ons is below - Free VPN Screenshot Weather (weather-best-forecast) Mouse Gesture (crxMouse) Cache - Fast site loader Free MP3 Downloader Google Translate (google-translate-right-clicks) Traductor de Google Global VPN - Free Forever Dark Reader Dark Mode Translator - Google Bing Baidu DeepL Weather...

The Keksec threat actor has been linked to a previously undocumented malware strain, which has been observed in the wild masquerading as an extension for Chromium-based web browsers to enslave compromised machines into a botnet. Called  Cloud9  by security firm Zimperium, the malicious browser add-on comes with a wide range of features that enables it to siphon cookies, log keystrokes, inject arbitrary JavaScript code, mine crypto, and even enlist the host to carry out DDoS attacks. The extension "not only steals the information available during the browser session but can also install malware on a user's device and subsequently assume control of the entire device," Zimperium researcher Nipun Gupta  said  in a new report. The JavaScript botnet isn't distributed via Chrome Web Store or Microsoft Edge Add-ons, but rather through fake executables and rogue websites disguised as Adobe Flash Player updates. Once installed, the extension is designed to inject a JavaSc...

Microsoft on Wednesday outlined its plans to deprecate Visual Basic Script (VBScript) in the second half of 2024 in favor of more advanced alternatives such as JavaScript and PowerShell. "Technology has advanced over the years, giving rise to more powerful and versatile scripting languages such as JavaScript and PowerShell," Microsoft Program Manager Naveen Shankar  said . "These languages offer broader capabilities and are better suited for modern web development and automation tasks." The tech giant originally  announced  its plans to gradually sunset VBScript in October 2023. The scripting language, also called Visual Basic Scripting Edition, was first introduced by Microsoft in 1996 as a Windows system component, offering users the ability to automate tasks and develop interactive web pages using Internet Explorer and Edge (in  Internet Explorer mode ). The announced deprecation plan consists of three phases, with the first phase kicking off in the second h...

A Chinese infosec researcher has reported about an "almost impossible to detect" phishing attack that can be used to trick even the most careful users on the Internet. He warned, hackers can use a known vulnerability in the Chrome, Firefox and Opera web browsers to display their fake domain names as the websites of legitimate services, like Apple, Google, or Amazon to steal login or financial credentials and other sensitive information from users. What is the best defence against phishing attack? Generally, checking the address bar after the page has loaded and if it is being served over a valid HTTPS connection. Right? Okay, then before going to the in-depth details, first have a look at this demo web page  ( note: you may experience downtime due to high traffic on demo server ), set up by Chinese security researcher Xudong Zheng, who discovered the attack. " It becomes impossible to identify the site as fraudulent without carefully inspecting the site's URL o...

This week, our news radar shows that every new tech idea comes with its own challenges. A hot AI tool is under close watch, law enforcement is shutting down online spots that help cybercriminals, and teams are busy fixing software bugs that could let attackers in. From better locks on our devices to stopping sneaky tricks online, simple steps are making a big difference.  Let's take a closer look at how these efforts are shaping a safer digital world. ⚡ Threat of the Week DeepSeek's Popularity Invites Scrutiny — The overnight popularity of DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform originating from China, has led to extensive scrutiny of its models, with several analyses finding ways to jailbreak its system and produce malicious or prohibited content. While jailbreaks and prompt injections are a persistent concern in mainstream AI products, the findings also show that the model lacks enough protections to prevent potential abuse by malicious actors . The AI chatbot ha...