back to article FYI: There are thousands of Chrome extensions with so, so many fake installations to trick you into using them

Efforts to manipulate installation counts in Chrome Web Store extension listings appear to be alive and well, despite a developer's personal crusade to call attention to the problem. Julio Marin Torres has been highlighting suspiciously popular Chrome extensions since January in posts to the Chromium Extensions forum, trying …

  1. cb7

    How does one turn off the ability to install Chrome extensions?

    I have some users who need to be protected from themselves.

    1. foo_bar_baz
    2. The Sprocket

      Use another browser, that's how. I always suggest Firefox.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Obigatory ElReg snob comment of the day

    I haven't seen that happen at the Lynx extensions store.

  4. IneptAdept

    You mean the store they don't curate

    The problem with the chrome store is there is no curation until 100s or 1000s of complaints are made

    Another reason I have pushed further towards Firefox over the last year or so

  5. Tubz Silver badge
    Trollface

    Just ban all Russian and Chinese extensions, we all know they are fakes and laced with credential stealing malware.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      I wish that was actually a joke.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Tubz - I don't think it will solve the problem

      If I read English correctly, it says devs from the countries you mention are offering their services to inflate the number of downloads. It doesn't specifically say the authors of those malevolent extensions are from Russia or China. Unethical developers are from all over the world.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do Google verify developers identity?

    Apple does for their app store along with a small annual payment. Definitely not foolproof but highly effective deterrent

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm a very, very conservative person

    when it comes to installing software on my personal PC. Before installing, I'm asking myself several times if I really want/need that piece of software and I do my best to check the reputation of its author and make sure I download it from the author's public web site. If I need that application badly and I still don't trust it, I may install it in a virtual machine to see what it does.

    But that's me, your mileage might vary. Wildly.

    1. Jim Birch

      Re: I'm a very, very conservative person

      Most people don't have your skills or caution. Google does a mostly reasonable job of protecting users from themselves but Chrome extensions is a wild west.

  8. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Oh for Heaven's sake

    "I think that the Chrome Web Store does not take good care of its developers and forgets the most important thing, the users"

    It's almost mid-2020 and there are still people who do not understand that anything Google is there for the ad views, not the users.

    Extensions are just wallpaper to get the clicks. So some of them are dodgy ? The clicks are all that counts. More clicks, more ad views, more money in Google's coffers.

    It's what they do.

  9. John_3_16
    FAIL

    I agree, Oh for Heaven's sake.

    Anyone still using anything google or chrome based is begging to be taken advantage of. If you hire a pedophile to babysit your kids DO NOT be shocked when they are molested. Stupid starts with the user.

    I use FF browser & apps they have cleared & continue to watch. My security apps & security software often flag & block google/chrome based apps & malware/spyware etc. Nothing they say, do or make can be trusted. NOTHING...

    God protect us.

  10. GrapeBunch

    La difficulté juste

    Maybe it should be difficult to install an extension. Another advantage of Opera and Vivaldi over Chrome. With Opera and Vivaldi, you're not 100% sure where to get extensions. Or at least, in my extended noob-hood (copyright pending ha ha), I am not 100% sure. There's also a role for reviews, and the cordon sanitaire of installing an extension only once it has a century of widespread acceptance.

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