Mozilla admits Firefox add-on false alarm

Filed Under: Malware

Firefox
As I reported on this blog at the time, last week Mozilla warned that two Firefox add-ons had been found to be infected by malware.

This week Mozilla has updated its blog in order to explain that one of those malware reports was erroneous - and that the detection of a Trojan horse in Version 4.0 of Sothink Video Downloader was in fact a false alarm in the anti-virus product they were using to scan Firefox add-ons.

Of course, you have to feel sorry for the developers of Sothink Video Downloader whose reputation could have been harmed by an incorrect claim of malware infection like this.

I don't think that Mozilla was wrong to withdraw the add-on from availability while its status was under question, but I do think there should have been more checking before publicly labelling it "malware".

Meanwhile, Mozilla has confirmed that the other add-on under scrutiny, Master Filer, was infected by a Trojan and downloaded by fewer than 700 people.

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About the author

Graham Cluley is senior technology consultant at Sophos. The readers of Computer Weekly voted him security blogger of the year in 2009 and 2010, and he pipped Stephen Fry to the title of "Twitter user of the year" too. Which was nice. He was also named "Best Security Blogger" by the readers of SC Magazine in 2011. You can subscribe to Graham's updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.