One of the largest corporate espionage and data breach scandals in digital history': New "Browser Gate" report claims Linked In secretly scans user browsers for installed extensions and collects device data | Tech Radar
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One of the largest corporate espionage and data breach scandals in digital history': New "Browser Gate" report claims Linked In secretly scans user browsers for installed extensions and collects device data
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Report alleges Linked In scans browsers for extensions
Claims data used against competitors in “Browser Gate”
Linked In denies misuse, calls accusations a smear campaign
A new report is alleging Linked In uses hidden Java Script to scan its visitors’ browsers for installed extensions, looks for those that compete with its own sales tools, and then twists its users’ arms until they stop using those and pick Linked In’s products, instead.
However the social network says this is a smear campaign run by a disgruntled extensions developer who lost a court battle in Germany.
An “association of commercial Linked In users” called Fairlinked e. V published a report detailing “Browser Gate” - claiming Linked In scans for thousands of browser extensions and ties the results to identifiable user profiles - and by scanning, Linked In harvests personal and corporate information.
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"Linked In scans for over 200 products that directly compete with its own sales tools, including Apollo, Lusha, and Zoom Info. Because Linked In knows each user's employer, it can map which companies use which competitor products. It is extracting the customer lists of thousands of software companies from their users' browsers without anyone's knowledge,' the report states.
"Then it uses what it finds. Linked In has already sent enforcement threats to users of third-party tools, using data obtained through this covert scanning to identify its targets."
Apparently, the scanning part is true - Bleeping Computer ran an independent test and saw a Java Script that checked for exactly 6,236 browser extensions. The publication says that many of the extensions scanned are related to Linked In, but some have seemingly unrelated features - language and grammar extensions, tools for tax professionals, and others.
“The script also collects a wide range of browser and device data, including CPU core count, available memory, screen resolution, timezone, language settings, battery status, audio information, and storage features,” Bleeping Computer reports.
In response to the accusations, Linked In says it does scan for extensions, but it does so to prevent users from violating the site’s terms of use. It also claims Browser Gate’s author is running a smear campaign after losing a court battle in Germany.
Linked In says it's actually protecting user privacy (Image credit: Shutterstock)
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Here’s why: some extensions have static resources (images, javascript) available to inject into our webpages. We can detect the presence of these extensions by checking if that static resource URL exists. This detection is visible inside the Chrome developer console. We use this data to determine which extensions violate our terms, to inform and improve our technical defenses, and to understand why a member account might be fetching an inordinate amount of other members' data, which at scale, impacts site stability. We do not use this data to infer sensitive information about members.
For additional context, in retaliation for this website owner's account restriction, they attempted to obtain an injunction in Germany, alleging Linked In had violated various laws. The court ruled against them and found their claims against Linked In had no merit, and in fact, this individual's own data practices ran afoul of the law.
Unfortunately, this is a case of an individual who lost in the court of law but is seeking to re-litigate in the court of public opinion without regard for accuracy."
Apparently, the Browser Gate’s author built a browser extension called “Teamfluence” which, according to Linked In, violated the site’s terms of use, for automated data collection.
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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, Io T, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.
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One of the largest corporate espionage and data breach scandals in digital history': New "Browser Gate" report claims Linked In secretly scans user browsers for installed extensions and collects device data
