Network Security Research on Chrome Extensions

TapTechNews June 25th - A recently released report by network security experts reveals that between July 2020 and February 2023, a total of 346 million Chrome users have installed problem extensions, and it is noted that more than 63 million extensions violated Google's relevant policies, 3 million extensions had vulnerabilities, and 280 million extensions contained malicious software.

Researchers Sheryl Hsu, Manda Tran, and Aurore Fass from Stanford University and the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security conducted in-depth research on the Security-NoteworthyExtensions (SNE) problem extensions in the Chrome App Store.

TapTechNews cites the report, stating that SNE is defined as extensions that contain malicious software, violate Google's Chrome Web Store policies, or contain vulnerable code.

The researchers indicate that under normal circumstances, the average shelf life of regular Chrome browser extensions in the store is not very long, and the proportion of extensions that have been on the shelf for more than one year is 51.8%-62.9%.

On the other hand, the average stay time of SNE in the store is 380 days (for malicious software), and if it contains vulnerable code, it is 1248 days.

The SNE with the longest survival time is named TeleApp, which has been on the shelf for 8.5 years. Its last update was on December 13, 2013, and it was found to contain malicious software on June 14, 2022, and then removed.

The researchers state that ratings cannot help determine whether an extension contains malicious software. The report points out: In general, users do not give lower ratings to SNE, indicating that users may not be aware that such extensions are dangerous. Of course, it is also possible that robots provide false comments and high ratings for these extension programs. However, considering that half of the SNE have no comments, it is unlikely that false comments are widely used.

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