HomeWinBuzzer NewsMicrosoft Edge Removes Malicious Extensions from Official Store

Microsoft Edge Removes Malicious Extensions from Official Store

Microsoft says extensions are tarting Microsoft Edge by pretending to be legitimate services and redirecting users to other sites.

-

Edge has an ever-growing selection of , thanks mostly to the browser now running on and allowing Chrome web extensions. However, Microsoft has removed some malicious extensions over the weekend after complaints from users.

Specifically, some users found Searches were redirecting them to oksearch.org/xa2/click.html and to other websites.

Users took to to warn of the problem and Microsoft was quick with a response. The company says the redirect was happening due to malicious extensions from the . These extensions were acting as VPN clients even though they were not.

Discussing the issue on Reddit, Microsoft says the following fake VPN services were removed from the store:

  • NordVPN
  • Adguard VPN
  • TunnelBear VPN
  • The Great Suspender
  • Floating Player – Picture-in-Picture Mode

Avoiding Malicious Extensions

Of course, some of those names are real VPN services. However, the extensions are not official and were created to fool users. Microsoft Edge users with these extensions should remove them.

Microsoft points out there are likely more extensions doing the same. The company asked users to help find those malicious add-ons:

“If you have more than just these extensions, and continue to see ad injections, please reply to this comment with a list of your extensions so that the team can investigate further.”

One way to possibly avoid this problem is to download Edge extensions from the Chrome extension store. Microsoft Edge is based on the Chromium engine and supports add-ons from Microsoft and Google stores.

That said, it is not as if Google's store is invulnerable.

SourceReddit
Luke Jones
Luke Jones
Luke has been writing about all things tech for more than five years. He is following Microsoft closely to bring you the latest news about Windows, Office, Azure, Skype, HoloLens and all the rest of their products.

Recent News