“Two Firefox add-ons available for months on Mozilla’s website infected users with malware that stole passwords and opened a backdoor on Windows machines, the open-source browser maker has confirmed,” Dan Goodin reports for The Register.
“The add-ons, available on an experimental section of Mozilla’s official add-on download site carried trojans that have been detected since 2008 by commercial anti-virus products,” Goodin reports. “And yet they weren’t removed until late January and earlier this week because a scanning tool used to vet add-ons during upload failed to catch the malicious files.”
MacDailyNews Take: Any questions about why Apple vets apps for iPhone, iPod touch, and, soon, iPad, before making them available to customers?
Goodin continues, “‘If a user installs one of these infected add-ons, the trojan would be executed when Firefox starts and the host computer would be infected by the trojan,’ a note on Mozilla’s add-on blog stated. ‘Uninstalling these add-ons does not remove the trojan from a user’s system.’ Instead, infected users will need to thoroughly scan their machines with an anti-virus program. Or better yet, use multiple scanners, or simply reinstall the operating system to be on the safe side.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ah, the bad ol’ “Wipe and Reinstall.” At least Windows sufferers will be intimately familiar with the procedure.
Goodin continues, “This isn’t the first time Mozilla has served malware-laced add-ons… Both infections affected only Windows users of the open-source browser.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good thing you saved that $129.50 upfront when you bought that WIndows box instead of that Mac you really wanted; the thieves who just stole that and more out of your bank account thank you, we’re sure. Well, if you’re currently stuck on a Windows box, at least you can get a real browser for free until you move up to a Mac. It’s the big brother of the one you already use on your iPhone and/or iPod touch: Click here for more info and download link for Safari for Windows.
5 Day Most Commented