negativeSYS.SOURCE: The Hacker News• 2026-08-12T19:39:50+05:30

Massive Collection of Malicious Chrome VPN Extensions Exposed

#chrome security #vpn security #malicious extension

A large number of malicious Chrome VPN extensions were discovered impersonating legitimate brands to route user traffic through a centralized SOCKS5 proxy, enabling potential man-in-the-middle attacks. The extensions bypassed Chrome's security measures and included deceptive practices like fake premium features and policy evasion techniques.

A massive set of 737 free VPN and proxy extensions have been found to mainly target Russian-speaking users seeking access to blocked services with an aim to intercept browser traffic and route them through a proxy infrastructure.

The extensions, published across at least 40 Chrome Web Store developer accounts, racked up 75,486 installs. Of those identified, 274 have been found to impersonate 66

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> OPTIMIZING LLM OUTPUT EFFICIENCY THROUGH HISTORICAL TELEGRAPHESE COMPRESSION TECHNIQUES > CISO INSIGHTS REVEAL CYBER RISK SHIFTS TOWARD INTERNAL WORKFLOWS > FBI WARNS OF ONGOING FORTIBLEED CAMPAIGN TARGETING FORTINET DEVICES WITH 86,644 CREDENTIALS COMPROMISED > CRITICAL ATLASSIAN DATA CENTER VULNERABILITY CVE-2026-21589 EXPLOITED WITHIN TWO HOURS OF DISCLOSURE > AGENTIC PENTESTING: PROOFS, LIMITATIONS, AND CONTINUOUS VALIDATION CHALLENGES > CHROME INTEGRATES JPEG XL FOR ENHANCED IMAGE COMPRESSION > EXPLOITING LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS AND DATA POISONING TO MANIPULATE CONSENSUS > ADVANCEMENTS IN SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ENABLE CREATION OF MIRROR-LIFE ORGANISMS > CANADIAN STUDY WARNS PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME POSES RISKS TO SLEEP AND MENTAL HEALTH > RISING PS5 JAILBREAKS POSE SIGNIFICANT SECURITY CHALLENGES> OPTIMIZING LLM OUTPUT EFFICIENCY THROUGH HISTORICAL TELEGRAPHESE COMPRESSION TECHNIQUES > CISO INSIGHTS REVEAL CYBER RISK SHIFTS TOWARD INTERNAL WORKFLOWS > FBI WARNS OF ONGOING FORTIBLEED CAMPAIGN TARGETING FORTINET DEVICES WITH 86,644 CREDENTIALS COMPROMISED > CRITICAL ATLASSIAN DATA CENTER VULNERABILITY CVE-2026-21589 EXPLOITED WITHIN TWO HOURS OF DISCLOSURE > AGENTIC PENTESTING: PROOFS, LIMITATIONS, AND CONTINUOUS VALIDATION CHALLENGES > CHROME INTEGRATES JPEG XL FOR ENHANCED IMAGE COMPRESSION > EXPLOITING LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS AND DATA POISONING TO MANIPULATE CONSENSUS > ADVANCEMENTS IN SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ENABLE CREATION OF MIRROR-LIFE ORGANISMS > CANADIAN STUDY WARNS PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME POSES RISKS TO SLEEP AND MENTAL HEALTH > RISING PS5 JAILBREAKS POSE SIGNIFICANT SECURITY CHALLENGES