SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co
The SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co is an extension for Google Chrome that mines cryptocurrency in the background, using up the affected computer's resources to make money for a third-party. The SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co is a relatively popular Google Chrome extension, and it's been downloaded more than 140 thousand times! Apparently, the creators of the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co programmed it so that it would mine Monero, an online cryptocurrency, in secret, automatically.
Table of Contents
Why the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co may Lose Popularity?
The SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co's creators included a JavaScript library in the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co's code, which carries out the mining operations. Computer users that reported problems with the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co, complained about performance issues on the affected computers particularly, which were traced to the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co extension running in the background and using up system resources. The SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co is advertised as a way to bypass various online advertisements and wait times associated with advertising networks. This made the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co to become popular, both in the number of people that have downloaded it and in the high star rating that the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co had accrued on the Google Chrome Web Store. It is clear that the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co's covert mining operations will affect its popularity and rating quite negatively.
The SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co’s Mining doesn’t Benefit de PC User
Computer users have reported that the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co will use more than 60% of the affected computer's processing resources, making the affected computer run slowly and freeze or crash frequently. This is because the JavaScript Miner 'Coinhive' was integrated into the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co's code. This is a Monero miner that works on the Web browser. Monero is an open source cryptocurrency that is valued at $95 for 1 Monero currently. The main issue with the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co is that it uses the victim's computer's resources to mine Monero, but all the profits from these operations go to the authors of the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co.
What is the Problem with the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co
Safebrowse.co first implemented Coinhive in the version 3.2.25 of the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension. Chrome, and updates extensions automatically so that many computer users that use the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co will receive the update with the Monero miner automatically. The effect of this miner on the victims' PCs was drastic, making the affected computers nearly impossible to use. It is hard to understand what the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co's authors were thinking, or whether they have their users' best interest in mind at all. The SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co was highly appreciated and relatively popular before the implementation of its Monero miner. However, this is not the first time that there have been issues with possibly unethical practices related to the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co. Fore example, in 2015 malware researchers observed that the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co was one of various Web browser extensions that tracked the computer users' online activities in the background automatically.
It seems that the use of cryptocurrency miners to profit at the expense of computer users is a practice that is gaining some traction. Just a few days before the issues with the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co came to light, it was discovered that a cryptocurrency has been built into the website of The Pirate Bay, a popular torrent and file sharing website. Although it was announced that this was a way to generate revenue as an alternative to displaying advertisements on the visitors' computers, the news were not well received, as was the case with the automatic implementation of miners on the SafeBrowse Chrome Extension by Safebrowse.co.
