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:

  • Undocumented driver-based browser hijacker RedDriver targets Chinese speakers and internet cafes

    July 11, 2023

    Cisco Talos has identified multiple versions of an undocumented malicious driver named “RedDriver,” a driver-based browser hijacker that uses the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) to intercept browser traffic. RedDriver has been active since at least 2021. RedDriver utilizes HookSignTool to forge its signature timestamp to bypass Windows driver-signing policies. Read more… Source: Talos  

  • FortiOS/FortiProxy – Proxy mode with deep inspection – Stack-based buffer overflow

    July 11, 2023

    A stack-based overflow vulnerability in FortiOS & FortiProxy may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or command via crafted packets reaching proxy policies or firewall policies with proxy mode alongside SSL deep packet inspection. Workaround: Disable deep inspection on proxy policies or firewall policies with proxy mode. Read more… Source: FortiGuard Labs/Fortinet  

  • Microsoft discloses more than 130 vulnerabilities as part of July’s Patch Tuesday, four exploited in the wild

    July 11, 2023

    Microsoft released its monthly security update Tuesday, disclosing the most vulnerabilities as part of Patch Tuesday in more than a year. The company released details of more than 130 vulnerabilities, the most in a month since April 2022, 10 of which are considered to be critical. The remaining vulnerabilities are “important.” Read more… Source: Talos  

  • 12,000 State Bank of India employees’ sensitive data leaked on Telegram channels

    July 11, 2023

    In a massive data breach incident, the data of more than 12,000 State Bank of India (SBI) employees was leaked on Telegram channels. The leaked data included the employees’ personal information, such as their SBI passbooks, names, addresses, contact numbers, and PAN numbers. The data breach was unearthed after a Telegram channel with the handle @sbi_data ...

  • Storm-0978 attacks reveal financial and espionage motives

    July 11, 2023

    Microsoft has identified a phishing campaign conducted by the threat actor tracked as Storm-0978 targeting defense and government entities in Europe and North America. The campaign involved the abuse of CVE-2023-36884, which included a remote code execution vulnerability exploited before disclosure to Microsoft via Word documents, using lures related to the Ukrainian World Congress. Read more… Source: Microsoft  

  • Attackers Exploit Unpatched Windows Zero-Day Vulnerability

    July 11, 2023

    A zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2023-36884) affecting Microsoft Windows and Office products is being exploited by attackers in the wild. To date, the exploit has been used in highly targeted attacks against organizations in the government and defense sectors in Europe and North America. The vulnerability was disclosed yesterday (July 11) by Microsoft, which said that an attacker ...