Comment on 4.3 Million Browsers Infected: Inside ShadyPanda's 7-Year Malware Campaign | Koi Blog
SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
TL;Dr: Chrome extensions are sleeper agents, because Chrome doesn’t review updates before pushing them out to users.
ShadyPanda learned three critical lessons:
- Chrome’s review process focused on initial submission, not ongoing behavior
- Users trust extensions with high install counts and positive reviews
- Patience pays off - some extensions operated for months before detection. The longer you look legitimate, the more damage you can do.
vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 23 hours ago
So, asking the past defenders of such a situation again, was XUL really worse or is it in effect the same?
Except XUL also allowed such customization that very rarely an extension would become as popular as they become now. Fragmentation as a defense.
(That refers to the discussions about Firefox dropping XUL in the past, killing many-many good extensions and ways to make them and alternative browsers built on XULRunner.)