Mozilla on Tuesday removed extensions to its Firefox web browser, extensions developed by Avast and its affiliate AVG, after the extensions proved to be spying on users.
Four extensions were found: Avast Online Security, AVG Online Security, Avast SafePrice, and AVG SafePrice collect user data, browsing logs, and other data they are not supposed to collect.
The first two extensions are used to display warnings when visiting suspicious or malicious websites, while the other two are used for online shopping and show comparisons of prices, deals, and purchase coupons available.
Mozilla removed the four extensions from Firefox after receiving a report from Wladimir Ballant, the creator of AdBlock Plus, which analyzed Avast Online Security and AVG Online Security in late October. Both extensions collect more data than they need to work, including detailed browsing history, a practice banned by Mozilla and Google.
Ballant published his report on Avast Online Security and AVG Online Security on October 28, but today he published another report saying he found the same behavior from Avast SafePrice and AVG SafePrice.
Because his first report did not get the impact he had hoped for, and Mozilla did not respond to the extensions on its own, Ballant said he had informed Mozilla developers of what he had also reached yesterday, and the organization had already removed the four extensions within 24 hours.
According to Ballant, the four extensions are also available on Google's Chrome browser, and after reporting them, Google is expected to remove them from the Chrome extension store.
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