
He also added that the firm cooperates with security bodies and law enforcement as much as it can to prevent such cases. While researchers say they were unable to get in touch with the registrar’s representatives, GalComm’s owner Moshe Fogel told Reuters he didn’t know about any malicious activity linked to his company. All of these domains were registered via the Israeli-based internet domain provider GalComm. Internet domain registrar may have helped to fuel the spreadīesides the malicious extensions, Awake Security researchers discovered around 15,000 domains that were set up to store the data that the extensions gathered. The malicious extensions didn’t have a price tag and were packaged as add-ons to either enable users to convert files or alert them about questionable websites. They had been downloaded to devices associated with healthcare, retail, oil and gas, government, financial, and many other sectors. Spoofed to look legitimate, the extensions carried a range of surveillance capabilities such as capturing keystrokes (like passwords), reading clipboards, taking screenshots and harvesting credential tokens present in parameters or cookies.īased on the findings, the extensions allowed attackers to create strong footholds on enterprise networks. The researchers also revealed that the extensions were downloaded almost 33 million times by Google Chrome users, with a few extensions receiving over ten million installs. While most of them appeared to function normally, they were actually offering support to a massive global surveillance campaign by spying on and stealing data from users across various industry verticals. Seventy-nine of these extensions were present on the Chrome Web Store.
Findfocus browser extension download#
Malicious Chrome extensions received over 30 million downloadsĭuring a three-month study, researchers from Awake Security discovered 111 malicious browser extensions available to download for Google Chrome. With that in mind, let’s look at a recent case of malicious browser extensions and what you can do to detect them (before it’s too late).

Plus, the fact that marketplace authorities don’t properly vet most extensions makes these modules safe for carrying malware.

Generally, extensions aren’t considered as applications, so they often fly under a security program’s radar. The large user base makes it attractive for bad actors to package malware inside the extensions.Īnother appeal of using extensions is that it’s difficult for an antivirus to spot the malware. This means that a lot of people end up using them. That said, if you're struggling to find focus while surfing the Internet and Google Chrome is your browser of choice, then Focus 45 might just be the right tool for you, granted you employ a bit of self-discipline as well, of course.Almost all popular web browsers offer extensions, including Chrome, Safari, Opera Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Better yet, it also provides a few options to customize the timer length and the unlock allowance time. A simple and unassuming productivity tool that can be customized to suit everyone's needsĬlearly, this isn't the most sophisticated productivity tool out there, however, it's so stripped-down that basically anyone can get the hang of it in mere seconds.

By default, the extension allows you to view the respective website for 5 minutes, however, you can shorten and even stretch the period, and that's really about it. It's also worth highlighting that you can still access any of the blocked websites while the focus setting is active by entering a code. However, as mentioned before, the length of the timer can be adjusted to your own accord to any number of minutes. It provides you with the possibility of customizing your list of distracting websites and enough adjustability for its timers to make it so that you don't hate it.īy default, the extension is set up to block distracting websites for a 45 minute period, from where its name stems from. Helps you block distractions simply and efficiently while using Chrome
Findfocus browser extension install#
It's just as easy to install as any other Chrome Web Store extension, it lives in Chrome's toolbar, and its icon is used for starting the timer as well as for displaying the number of remaining minutes. Right off the bat, here's what this extension's all about. Focus 45 for Chrome is one of multiple productivity orientated Chrome extensions that aim to help you better focus by allowing you to block off various distracting sources for any user-defined periods of time.
