The culprit is the Avast Online Security extension that these products urge you to install in your browser for maximum protection”, - wrote IS expert.
The fact is that at the end of October he studied the work of Avast Online Security and AVG Online Security, and found that add-ons collect much more data than is necessary for their work, including a detailed browser history.Īre you one of the allegedly 400 million users of Avast antivirus products? Then I have bad news for you: you are likely being spied upon. The first two extensions warned users when switching to known malicious or suspicious sites, two more were intended for online buyers, showed price comparisons, great offers and affordable discount coupons.Įxtensions were removed after Mozilla received a warning from AdBlock Plus developer Vladimir Palant. The fact is that these products collected user data (referrer addresses, unique UIDs, country code, browser name and version, OS information, etc.) and traced user’s history.
Mozilla has removed four extensions for Firefox from Avast and its affiliate AVG from the official extension catalog: Avast Online Security, AVG Online Security, Avast SafePrice, and AVG SafePrice.
