90,000 Chrome users fall for malicious Facebook Timeline extension

Security researchers at Barracuda Networks have spotted a handful of malicious Chrome extensions lurking in the Web Store that shared a common M.O. All of them were designed to track a user’s browsing activity, and all were disguised as Facebook mods that could revert the site from Timeline to its traditional layout. In total, around 90,000 Chrome users had been tricked into installing the three extensions spotted by Barracuda.

Beyond tracking their users, the extensions also pushed bogus surveys and urge users into joining fake Facebook events. That part of the scam is what attracts new users to scammy extensions like this in the first place. In the Web Store, it’s hard for them to stand out when other legitimate extensions are already established and offer a long list of reviews and good ratings that prove their utility. In order to lure their marks into the van, the extension authors push it on Facebook — where frustrated users are more likely to jump on the first thing they see that promises to undo the Timeline view.

Fortunately for Chrome users, Google has already caught on to the scam, too. As of this morning, all three of the extensions flagged by Barracuda as malicious have been removed from the Web Store.

Now that Chrome is the most-used web browser in the world, Google’s going to need to remain vigilant. It should be a bit easier to keep malicious extensions at bay now, what with the company’s acquisition of the web-based malware scanning service VirusTotal going down last week.

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