Chrome to become Malware Collection tool.

Just when you think the internet couldn't get any less scrupulous, ArsTechnica reports that malware companies are buying up popular Chrome extensions to get access to your browser.

What this means for you is that if you have a bunch of cool extensions for Google Chrome to help enhance your browsing experience (or whatever), you might soon find ads popping up everywhere. ArsTechnica tells the tale of extension developer Amit Agarwal, who sold his extension for "4 figures" only to find a month later that the new owners had updated the extension to insert ads on all webpages and redirect some URLs to ads as well. ArsTechnica's Ron Amadeo describes some of the symptoms of these attacks, saying "Google search became useless, because every link would redirect to some other webpage." Ugh.

The solution?
“One way to stay a least slightly informed of what is going on is to install an extension that will notify you when your other extensions get updated. Other than that, the only other option is to stop using extensions entirely, which is a little extreme.