More than 75 million people have downloaded these malicious Chrome plugins

One of Google Chrome’s greatest benefits simultaneously poses one of its greatest risks. Plugins are used to make the browser more user-friendly. The number of malicious Chrome extensions that have been discovered exceeds 75 million downloads.

It goes without saying that you should be cautious about anything you download and install, and the same is true for Chrome extensions. They can be helpful tools that greatly enhance your browsing experience. But just like any program you download, Chrome extensions have the potential to do bad things without your knowledge.

Google has removed a few dangerous Chrome add-ons

TechRadar reports that cybersecurity expert Wladimir Palant found some intriguing code inside the PDF toolbox extension, which was first reported by Bleeping Computer. Serasearchtop.com was able to inject arbitrary code into any website that the viewer visited thanks to this code. Since then, he has found 17 more extensions using this code.

He couldn’t quite make out what the code was used for at the moment, but it might inject advertising into websites or even steal search results. Even reports from other users claim that after installing one of these extensions, they experienced unintended site redirects.

Avast, a cyber security organization, soon discovered 14 other extensions using the same approach. Overall, the number now stands at 32. They have a staggering 75 million downloads combined.

Plug-ins like Auto Skip for YouTube, Soundboost, Crystal Ad Block, Brisk VPN, Clipboard Helper, and Maxi Refresher are among these dangerous Chrome extensions. The complete list is available here.

Thankfully, Google recognized these dangerous plugins and removed them, according to Avast. However, this does not imply that they are instantly deactivated, so if you have these installed, you should get rid of them right away.

These plugins have a lot of potential to engage in additional destructive behavior. There is no way of knowing what other tasks these extensions are capable of. To avoid learning, it is best to get rid of them.