Cryptojacking has exploded for six months. The approach then evolved and adapted to initiate, sometimes, the mining of crypto-currencies. Google has announced that it is removing all cryptocurrency mining extensions from its Chrome Web Store this April 2. And for good reason, many users do not respect the regulation established by the research giant.
Ban cryptocurrency mining extensions
Google will remove existing extensions next July. These contain mining features.
Although cryptojacking can be used for legal purposes - such as revenue collection for a publishing platform or charity fundraising - it has been largely maliciously implemented.
Criminals are likely to have far too much trouble using malware installed to steal a victim's computing power.They can integrate cryptocurrency minors into websites without notifying the user.
Failures are inevitable
James Wagner, product manager of Google's extension platform, said:
Over the last few months, we have witnessed the emergence of malicious extensions that appear, on the surface, to offer features to users, but which include hidden cryptocurrency mining scripts, which were run in the background without their consent."Unfortunately, 90% of the extensions containing mining scripts, which developers uploaded to the Chrome Web Store, did not comply with these rules. They have either been rejected or removed from the store, " he added. Cryptojacking has found a place in critical infrastructures.
For months, current malware scanners and ad blockers have blacklisted mining scripts. Google developers hurried to fix the problem as soon as it showed up. However, the company authorized the mining extensions in the Chrome Web Store as long as they were for user-initiated mining.
Later, the company noticed that about 90% of the mining extensions submitted by the developers were not compliant and therefore had to be blocked.
Wagner continued his announcement by saying:
The key to maintaining a healthy ecosystem of extensions is to keep the platform open and flexible, allowing our developers to create creative and innovative customizations for Chrome browser users. Therefore, we chose to postpone the ban on extensions with crypto-currency mining scripts until it became clear that the vast majority of mining extensions submitted for review did not respect our policy of use or were malicious.Although the ban does not eliminate the problem, this initiative makes Google's requirements more precise.His commitment to examine the extensions of possible illegal cryptocurrency operations proves his involvement in the current situation.
What do you think of Google's cryptocurrency mining extension ban? Comment in the comments section below.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://infos.link/google-banned-all-cryptocurrency-mining-extensions-on-its-chrome-store/