Google Chrome Update: Fake Ad Blockers Past Webstore's Moderation, 20 Million Users At Risk Of Hacking

A lot of internet users have opted to use ad blockers to avoid seeing pop-up ads and accidentally installing malware. However, there is a new report that reveals there are fake ad blocking tools that successfully made it past Google's security and have victimized 20 million Google Chrome users.

In a blog by AdGuard, it revealed millions of Google Chrome users are now at risk of hacking, thanks to those cloned ad blockers. In a report by PageFair in 2014, the freeware web browser is one of the mediums that drive the growth of ad blocker. In fact, 20 percent of its users learned ad blocking by just searching "available browser extensions." And with Chrome's Webstore's poor moderation, 20 million users were victimized of downloading fake ad blockers.

These fake ad blockers managed to be on the top of the research results with the help of proper keywords that are embedded into the uploads. According to reports, there were a total of five suspicious ad blockers that are flagged by Google.

There were AdRemover for Google Chrome with 10 million users, uBlock Plus with 8 million users, and Adblock Pro with 2 million users. Also included on the list is HD for YouTube with 400,000 users and Webutation with a whopping 30 million users. Fortunately, these fake applications are now down and removed by Google.

In studying these ad blockers, AdGuard also reported researchers found out these ad removers have malicious codes that could be used to leak the users' information about the sites their visit. The program is receiving commands from its command center remote server, and it is hiding by using unsuspicious images. These commands are said to be scripts that are installed in Google Chrome that will make it work in a different way. The browser is going to do whatever the command center server's owner wants it to do.

So, to stay safe from these malicious applications—not just the ad blocker alone—the internet users should check the author of the Google Chrome extension they are planning to install. If the author's name looks suspicious, trust your instinct and look for another one. Also, to make these fake programs stop from working, one has to file a trademark violation abuse to Google. From here, it will take the clone application down after a few days.