That Chrome Update Pop-Up May Actually Be Malware

If you're seeing pop-ups in Chrome pushing you to download an update in order to continue browsing or avoid losing access to your data, you may be a target for malware. As Android Authority reports , compromised browser extensions appear to be distributing malicious scripts disguised as "critical" security updates. Hackers are using malicious extensions to spread fake security updates Some Google Chrome users have noticed aggressive pop-ups alerting them to required updates and prompting them to download the latest version of the browser. One version states that "access to websites is temporarily blocked" until the update is installed. The other is even more urgent, stating that Chrome will stop working after a certain date and require a "complete reinstallation," in which users may lose access to bookmarks, history, and saved passwords. If you click "Update Chrome," it'll download a suspicious .vbs or .exe script to your device. The issue seems to be traceable to a handful of extensions, which are fetching malicious scripts and serving fake prompts inside the browser. In Chrome, one such add-on is “Enable Right Click & Copy Smart Unlock + OCR," which has a "Featured" tag and 70,000 downloads (though other utility tools may be culprits as well). Users on Brave and Opera, both Chromium browsers, have reported identical pop-ups. For the former, the compromised extension, called "QuickLens – Search Screen with Google Lens," was removed from the Web Store. While s…