A Google Chrome browser extension tricking users into taking part in a fake airdrop from cryptocurrency exchange Huobi claimed over 200 victims, a security researcher reported in an exceedingly blog post on March 14.
The extension for Chrome web browser, with the name NoCoin, gained 230 downloads before Google deleted it, as per Harry Denley, who runs cryptocurrency scam information EtherscamDB.
Denley noted that hackers had intentionally disguised the malicious extension to appear like a tool protecting users from cryptocurrency malware or so-called cryptojacking.
“From the beginning, it looked like it did what it ought to — it had been detected [sic] various CryptoJacking scripts and there was a pleasant UI to let me know it was doing its job,” he mentioned within the post.
Behind the facade, however, it became apparent the extension requests the input of private keys from standard wallet interfaces MyEtherWallet (MEW) and Blockchain.com. non-public keys are then sent to hackers, who will empty wallets of holdings.
The extension lay at the end of a fake giveaway campaign, seemingly from crypto exchange Huobi, that offered worthless ERC20 Ethereum network-based tokens to unwitting customers.
It is unknown how long the extension remained available for Google Chrome users.
As Top Market Group continues to report, dangerous actors targeting cryptocurrency users have sought-after more and more nefarious ways of tricking novices into turning in access to funds. simply in the week, a report known cryptojacking as an indication of more and more discreet behavior among hackers.
Google itself has return vulnerable for its own apparent lack of diligence within the past, in February actuation a fake version of standard decentralized app MetaMask from its Play store.
As Top Market Group reported last month, users of cryptocurrency wallets electrum and MEW were conjointly facing phishing attacks, as per posts revealed on Reddit and Twitter.
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