A cryptomony mining code hidden in a Chrome extension

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Supposed to block pop-ups and other inadvertent ads, the free SafeBrowse for Chrome concealed a minor Monero cryptomonte. Discovered by the security specialists of Bleeping Computer, the script generated virtual currency by exploiting the processor resources without the knowledge of the users.

picture source : https://goo.gl/images/7YGH5t

The mining of virtual currency is a new source of revenue that some publishers and websites do not hesitate to exploit. In this case, the developers of the SafeBrowse extension, used by more than 140,000 Internet users, proclaim loud and clear their innocence: "Unfortunately, we were not aware of the presence of this code; "We have contacted the Google team, and we are currently doing research to find out what has happened, and we have not updated for several months. For its part, Bleeping Computer reported that the Conhive Miner - which is its name - integrated into SafeBrowse is particularly intrusive and damaging to users. The mining script, which operated continuously in the background, exploited virtually all of the available CPU resources, causing significant system slowdowns. Catching support, Bleeping shows the Cryptomonte Minor at work through Windows Task Manager. Indeed, it used more than 60% of the resources of the processor.
SafeBowse pays the bill.

Google's reaction was not long in coming, and the extension was removed from the Chrome Web Store. It must be said that this is not the first time she has talked about her. In November 2015, Detectify Labs researchers found that SafeBrowse, along with many other popular Chrome extensions, tracked users' web activity without their knowledge.

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