'Better History' Chrome Extension Caught Hijacking Browser with Ads
Surprisingly, it is rather common that web browser extensions have a flow that opens up a vulnerability or causes unforeseen security issues. As it turns out, the Better History browser extension for Google Chrome was caught hijacking data.
The Better History browser extension offers the features to add extra filters to the Chrome user's history section, so it is easier to view and find pages that the user has seen in the past. Users who have updated to the recent 3.9.8 version of Better History have reported prompts for extra permission to "read and change all your data on the websites you visit." The users then experienced redirects through the linkr.us service where half of those going through this process would witness various advertisements, which are thought to be adware that promotes monitory gain through clicks and impressions.
Better History, in its older versions, was a widely used Chrome extension and provided a clear-cut service for adding extra filters for browser history access. In discovering the issues with Better History hijacker browsers, users took to Reddit to out the browser extension in performing its questionable activities, but only from its latest 3.9.8 version.
What users didn't realize in using Better History 3.9.8, is that the owner of the extension sold it off to another unnamed company two months ago since version 3.9.5. Putting the pieces together as to what happened to Better History in its recent updates has lead experts to believe that its new owner may be responsible for to hijacking of user's browsers and causing the potentially malicious redirects.
The new author of Better History may be a culprit in other browser extensions performing malicious actions, which are taking place in the latest versions of the Chrome browser extensions Chrome Currency Converter, User-Agent Switcher, 4chan Plus, Hide My Adblocker, and Web Timer.
With so many Google Chrome users taking to the Internet on different channels to express their anger against Better History, Google's staff has removed it from their store. Additionally, the User-Agent Switcher extension has been removed as well thus far in discovering bad extensions that are hijacking user's browsers.
The use of malicious browser extensions has been a major issue for countless computer users over the course of many years. In fact, recent adware threats are one of the primary culprits for being associated with malicious or unwanted web browser extensions, which are not all that different from the recent Better History extension. Computer users are urged to be cautious when utilizing or installing web browser extensions. Fortunately, most browser extensions can be easily removed from your system by digging into the Internet settings or options of your web browser application.