"Online hackers may create websites that automatically trigger the installation of malicious extensions," Google noted in a Chrome Help page that explained the new rules. "Their extensions are often designed to secretly track the information you enter on the web, which the hackers can then reuse for other ill-intended purposes."
That security measure has not been foolproof, however, as a Facebook-theme scam detailed by Webroot last week illustrated: The rogue add-on was placed on the Chrome Web Store, even though Google had said on the same Help page that, "We have started analyzing every extension that is uploaded to the Web Store and take down those we recognize to be malicious."
Chrome 25's dev version for Windows can be downloaded from Google's website.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@ix.netcom.com.
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