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Malicious VSCode extensions with millions of installs discovered
(www.bleepingcomputer.com)
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this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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Programming
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Fake news headline. There is no virus installed on millions of computer.
An extension typosquatting an extension with million of install managed to be installed a few hundred of times.
I wouldn't be so quick to write it off.
It's a proof of concept showing the weaknesses in Microsoft's vetting process for extensions published on the store. They then used the process to get pseudo-malicious code inside hundreds of organisations (not hundred of installs) some of which are high profile.
Microsoft doesn't have a vetting process for publishing extensions in the store. Maybe the failure is that people assume they do?
Surely you mean "that Microsoft does not make it clear that they don't"?
Maybe, but I think the only app store that does vet apps is the Apple one, so that should be the default expectation.
And I think even they wouldn't manually look for something like this. They're mainly concerned about people breaking the commercial rules.