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:

  • Car Dealerships Across US Halt Services After Cyberattack

    June 20, 2024

    Thousands of car dealerships were ground to a halt during a normally busy holiday Wednesday by a cyber incident at CDK Global, a major software provider for dealers across the US. The company “shut all systems down and executed extensive testing and consulted with external third-party experts,” Tony Macrito, a CDK spokesman, said in an email. ...

  • ExCobalt: GoRed, the hidden-tunnel technique

    June 19, 2024

    While responding to an incident at one of their clients, the PT ESC CSIRT team discovered a previously unknown backdoor written in Go, which they attributed to a cybercrime gang dubbed ExCobalt. ExCobalt focuses on cyberespionage and includes several members active since at least 2016 and presumably once part of the notorious Cobalt gang. Cobalt attacked ...

  • LevelBlue Labs Discovers Highly Evasive, New Loader Targeting Chinese Organizations

    June 19, 2024

    LevelBlue Labs recently discovered a new highly evasive loader that is being delivered to specific targets through phishing attachments. A loader is a type of malware used to load second-stage payload malware onto a victim’s system. Due to the lack of previous samples observed in the wild, LevelBlue Labs has named this malware “SquidLoader,” given its ...

  • Fickle Stealer Distributed via Multiple Attack Chain

    June 19, 2024

    The past few years have seen a significant increase in the number of Rust developers. Rust is a programming language focused on performance and reliability. However, for an attacker, its complicated assembly code is a significant merit. In May 2024, FortiGuard Labs observed a Rust-based stealer. In addition to its intricate code, the stealer is distributed ...

  • Void Arachne Targets Chinese-Speaking Users With the Winos 4.0 C&C Framework

    June 19, 2024

    In early April, Trend Micro researchers discovered that a new threat actor group (which they call Void Arachne) was targeting Chinese-speaking users. Void Arachne’s campaign involves the use of malicious MSI files that contain legitimate software installer files for artificial intelligence (AI) software as well as other popular software. The malicious Winos payloads are bundled alongside ...

  • Unmasking Mac malware – strategies for a growing threat

    June 18, 2024

    In recent years, cybercriminal groups have been ramping up their efforts to find vulnerabilities and create malware that will exploit the iOS or macOS. Jamf’s latest annual threat landscape research tracked 300 malware families designed for macOS, and 21 newly created families in 2023. It’s not just the number of malware families that has risen, but ...