Buzz
Today, the search giant announces plans to gradually phase out the ability to configure Chrome extension settings remotely, also known as inline installation.
Google Removes Chrome Extension Settings Option
Abuse of Inline Installation Feature in Recent Years
The reason is that malicious Chrome extension developers have exploited the Inline Installation feature to deceive users into installing harmful extensions, redirecting them to phishing websites, ... to carry out harmful behaviors.
The inline installation process allows developers to create extensions stored on the online Chrome store but enables users to install extensions on third-party websites with just a few mouse clicks without accessing the online Chrome store.
Google states that extension developers using inline installation to distribute harmful Chrome extensions have abused this interaction model for several years.
Users rarely access the list of extensions on the Chrome online store, so there will be very few reviews or warnings about extensions containing malicious software.
The Deletion Process is Divided into 3 Stages
Due to the abuse of this interaction model, Google is forced to remove the inline installation process from the browser and the online Chrome store. The deployment process consists of 3 stages:
- Stage 1: Starting from June 12, 2018, inline installation will not be available for newly released extensions. Extensions released from June 12, 2018, onwards that attempt to call the chrome.webstore.install() function will be automatically redirected to the online Chrome store in a new tab to complete the installation process.
- Phase 2: Starting from 12/9/2018, inline installation will be disabled for existing extensions, and users will be automatically redirected to the Chrome Web Store to complete the installation process.
- Phase 3: In early December 2018, the inline installation API method will be completely removed from Chrome version 71.
According to James Wagner, Google's director of extension product, if you distribute extensions through inline installation, users need to update the installation button on their website to link to the Chrome Web Store on Chrome version 71 stable.
Currently, if you notice unfamiliar extensions on Chrome, you can manually remove them. Refer to how to remove extensions on Chrome here.
Last year, Microsoft made a commitment to launch Office 2019 within this year. Just as the company promised, Office 2019 Preview for Mac is now available for business users with numerous new updates for macOS users to explore.
