Researchers at Socket identified a campaign of 737 free virtual private network and proxy extensions published across browser marketplaces that route users' web traffic through outside proxy servers. Many impersonate well-known brands to appear trustworthy, so a user installing what looks like a legitimate free VPN can instead have their browsing redirected through infrastructure they do not control. Because a browser extension can see and alter the pages a user visits, routing traffic this way exposes browsing activity and can enable interception. Free VPN and proxy extensions are a recurring source of this problem, trading the promise of privacy for the opposite.
Aikido Security uncovered a coordinated campaign of at least 15 malicious plugins on the JetBrains Marketplace that pose as AI coding assistants but secretly steal the AI provider API keys developers enter. The plugins offer real features like chat, code review, and commit messages, so they work as advertised, but the moment a user pastes in an OpenAI, DeepSeek, or SiliconFlow key and clicks Apply, the key is silently sent to an attacker server over plain HTTP, with no prompt. The campaign has run since late October 2025, with new plugins as recent as June 10, and uses inflated downloads and fake reviews. Separately, malicious Chrome extensions were found capturing chatbot conversations.
TrustStrike Labs