New “BrowserGate” report claims LinkedIn secretly scans user browsers for installed extensions and collects device data


A new report is alleging LinkedIn uses hidden JavaScript to scan its visitors’ browsers for installed extensions, looks for those that compete with its own sales tools, and then twists its users’ arms until they stop using those and pick LinkedIn’s products, instead.

However the social network says this is a smear campaign run by a disgruntled extensions developer who lost a court battle in Germany. An “association of commercial LinkedIn users” called Fairlinked e.V published a report detailing “BrowserGate” – claiming LinkedIn scans for thousands of browser extensions and ties the results to identifiable user profiles – and by scanning, LinkedIn harvests personal and corporate information.

Read more…
Source: TechRadar News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Ymir: new stealthy ransomware in the wild

    November 11, 2024

    In a recent incident response case, Kaspersky researchers discovered a new and notable ransomware family in active use by the attackers, which they named “Ymir”. The artifact has interesting features for evading detection, including a large set of operations performed in memory with the help of the malloc, memmove and memcmp function calls. In the case ...

  • TikTok ordered to close Canada offices following “national security review”

    November 8, 2024

    The Government of Canada ordered the TikTok Technology Canada Inc. to close its offices in the country following a national security review. This decision was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may be injurious to Canada’s national security. Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry ...

  • Hello again, FakeBat: popular loader returns after months-long hiatus

    November 8, 2024

    The web browser, and search engines in particular, continue to be a popular entry point to deliver malware to users. While Malwarebytes Labs noted a decrease in loaders distributed via malvertising for the past 3 months, today’s example is a reminder that threat actors can quickly switch back to tried and tested methods. After months of ...

  • QSC: A multi-plugin framework used by CloudComputating group in cyberespionage campaigns

    November 8, 2024

    In 2021, Kaspersky researchers began to investigate an attack on the telecom industry in South Asia. During the investigation, they discovered QSC: a multi-plugin malware framework that loads and runs plugins (modules) in memory. The framework includes a Loader, a Core module, a Network module, a Command Shell module and a File Manager module. It ...

  • Critical CyberPanel Vulnerability (CVE-2024-51378): How to Stay Protected

    November 7, 2024

    The SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team became aware of CVE-2024-51378, assessed its impact and developed mitigation measures for the vulnerability. CVE-2024-51378 is a critical vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.8 in CyberPanel versions 2.3.6 and 2.3.7 that allows unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE). Threat actors, including the PSAUX ransomware group, have been reported exploiting ...

  • Cisco Releases Security Advisories for Multiple Products

    November 7, 2024

    Cisco has released 15 security advisories addressing multiple vulnerabilities, including one critical and two high severity vulnerabilities affecting various products. The critical vulnerability affects Cisco Unified Industrial Wireless Software for Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul Access Point, a software that uses wireless backhaul technology to connect appliances. The vulnerability enables command injection, which could allow an attacker to ...