Chrome Extension Store Flooded with Keyword-Stuffing Spam
2025-01-12
A security researcher uncovered a widespread abuse of Google's Chrome Web Store. Hundreds of extensions are manipulating search results by cramming tens of thousands of irrelevant keywords into their descriptions, often hidden within lesser-used language translations. This allows malicious or low-quality extensions to rank highly for popular searches, even pushing legitimate extensions down the results. The researcher highlighted the ease with which this manipulation is performed and the apparent lack of Google's monitoring efforts, raising concerns about the platform's security.