Around the Net
Mozilla's Little Malware Mishap
- Computer World , Friday, February 5, 2010 2:06 PM
Microsoft's Internet Explorer isn't the only Web browser to be occasionally befouled by cyber attacks and malware. Rival Mozilla just confirmed that it failed to detect malware in a pair of
Firefox add-ons, which may have infected up to 4,600 users. And, while the add-ons have been removed from Firefox's official add-on download site, the mishap shows that any browser can fall victim to
malicious attacks. Both add-ons were in the "experimental" area of Firefox's add-on download site, where newer extensions remain until they undergo a public review process.
"Any Windows
users who installed one of the two add-ons would have also silently executed the Trojan, which would then infect the PC," according to ComputerWorld. Apparently, Mac and Linux users who installed the
add-ons were not affected. Owning up to the error, Mozilla said that its "scanning tool failed to detect the Trojan," in a blog post.
