Chrome Web Store is
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
's
online store
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...
for its
Chrome web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
. As of 2019, Chrome Web Store hosts about 190,000
extensions
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* E ...
and
web apps
A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection.
History
In earlier computing models like client-serve ...
.
History
Chrome Web Store was publicly unveiled in December 2010, and was opened on February 11, 2011, with the release of Google Chrome 9.0. A year later it was redesigned to "catalyze a big increase in traffic, across downloads, users, and total number of apps". As of June 2012, there were 750 million total installs of content hosted on Chrome Web Store.
Some
extension
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* E ...
developers have sold their extensions to third-parties who then incorporated
adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...
.
In 2014, Google removed two such extensions from Chrome Web Store after many users complained about unwanted pop-up ads.
The following year, Google acknowledged that about five percent of visits to its own websites had been altered by extensions with adware.
Malware
Malware
Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
remains a problem on Chrome Web Store.
In January 2018, security researchers found four malicious
extensions
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* E ...
with more than 500,000 combined downloads.
[ In February 2021, Google blocked "The Great Suspender", a popular extension with 2,000,000 users after it was reported that malicious code was added to it.
Chrome used to allow extensions hosted on Chrome Web Store to also be installed at the developer's website for the sake of convenience. But this became a malware vector, so it was removed in 2018.]
References
External links
*
{{Software digital distribution platforms
Google Chrome
Google services
Mobile software distribution platforms
Online marketplaces of the United States