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:

  • Former CIA employee sentenced to 40 years in prison after carrying out largest data leak in agency’s history

    February 1, 2024

    A former CIA employee was sentenced to 40 years in prison after carrying out the largest data leak in the agency’s history, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced Thursday. Joshua Schulte – who was accused of handing over reams of classified data to WikiLeaks in 2016 – was convicted in ...

  • Ukraine says 2,000 computers of state firm were impacted in cyber attack

    February 1, 2024

    Ukraine’s state computer emergency response team CERT-UA said on Thursday around 2,000 computers had been affected in the recent cyber attack on an unnamed state-run company. “As part of the detailed study of the cyber threat, the obtained malware samples were examined, the peculiarities of the functioning of the infrastructure of control servers were established, and ...

  • Volt Typhoon Actors Exploiting Insecure SOHO Routers

    January 31, 2024

    Threat actors—particularly the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—sponsored Volt Typhoon group—are compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers by exploiting software defects that manufacturers must eliminate through secure software design and development. Specifically, Volt Typhoon actors are exploiting security defects in SOHO routers to use them as launching pads to further compromise U.S. critical infrastructure entities. CISA ...

  • Czech cyber security agency reports record number of attacks in 2023

    January 31, 2024

    Czechia’s National Cyber and Security Information Agency says it registered a record number of cyber-attacks last year. The state organisation said on its website on Wednesday that it had recorded 262 such attacks in 2023, compared to 146 the previous year. The agency said the increase was mainly due to repeated waves of DDoS attacks led ...

  • Hackers obtain confidential information on Romanian officials after cyber attack at Parliament

    January 31, 2024

    Hackers breached the database of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Parliament, after a recent cyber attack. They reportedly managed to obtain confidential information, such as the prime minister’s identity documents, medical analyses, and other personal data.  The hackers threatened to release the personal data of the deputies if they did not ...

  • Series of cyber attacks risks sensitive data at New Jersey schools, hospitals

    January 30, 2024

    Class was canceled Monday across the Freehold Township school district, but not for the familiar January troubles of slushy roads, frozen pipes or a busted boiler. No, this was “a cybersecurity event” that ground school business to a halt. District officials disclosed little about what happened, assuring parents in an email they “retained outside IT expert consultants ...