If you have any of these Chrome and Edge extensions installed, remove them as soon as possible

According to Avast, the 28 malicious extensions found, made for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, could “redirect users’ traffic to advertisements or phishing sites and steal people’s personal information, such as birth dates, email addresses, and active devices.” These extensions made their way to devices by posing as video downloaders for sites like Instagram, Vimeo, and others.

The bogus extensions clearly worked, as Avast suspects that more than 3 million people are affected by the malware. Those 3 million people have probably made the attackers quite a bit of money, given that Avast believes this is the malware’s target. The browser redirects show advertisements, which are profitable for those behind the malware curtain. In addition, these extensions may have been in use since 2018, although Avast only caught them in November of this year. Jan Rubín, a malware researcher at Avast, also reports that the malware embedded in the extensions “is well hidden and that the extensions don’t show malicious behavior until days after installation, making it difficult to detect security software.”

As it stands now, the malicious extensions are still up for grabs in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extension stores, but they have been reported and are being investigated by every company. If you have any of the above extensions installed, it is recommended that you simply uninstall the extensions until further instructions are provided by Avast, Google or Microsoft. Maybe knowingly downloading browser extensions is not a good idea as it can easily damage your device.