James Wagner, the head of the direction of the development of extensions from Google, wrote an article in the Chromium blog titled "Protecting Users from Fraudulent Extensions Related to CryptoCurrency", in which he talked about the forthcoming exclusion of extensions for mining from the Chrome Web Store. He wrote:
"Starting today, the Chrome Web Store will no longer host extensions that allow crypto currency to be mined. Existing extensions to this profile will be removed from the Chrome Web Store at the end of June. Other extensions related to the blockchain will continue to be available in the store."
Hidden mining is becoming more widespread around the world and it has not escaped the attention of Google. In his entry, Wagner also noted:
"Until now, the policy of the online store Chrome allowed to carry out cryptocurrency mining through expansion, if this was his only goal", Wagner writes. "At the same time, the user received adequate information that the mining was carried out. Unfortunately, approximately 90% of all extensions with mining scripts that developers tried to download from the Chrome Web Store did not meet these requirements and were either rejected or deleted."
Wagner also noted that the company's new policy is the next step to ensure the safety of users of Chrome and give them the opportunity to take advantage of the online store, without being exposed to hidden risks of computing performance drainage. We can assume that the new rules are a continuation of Google's cryptocurrency policy, within the framework of which in the middle of last month the company announced that it would limit the issuance of advertisements related to ICO and cryptocurrencies.
Hidden mining is becoming more popular and widespread. In March, new attacks were recorded in Egypt, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. In addition, in February it became known that hackers use advertising on Youtube and in the autumn of last year there was a study confirming that half a billion people have become victims of the hidden mining.