Saturday, 23 April 2016

Popular Chrome extension Hola sold users' bandwidth for botnets

Hola, one of the most popular online services for viewing blocked videos and TV shows from other countries, has turned its users into a botnet without their knowledge. The software, which is available as plugin for the Chrome browser on desktop and mobile devices, had previously been praised for offering an easy-to-use and free service. However, it seems the company has been discreetly selling users' "idle resources" (i.e. their bandwidth) via a separate Luminati brand, allowing anyone to buy traffic in bulk and redirect it to a target site as a denial-of-service attack. Essentiall, Hola's users have been unwitting mercenaries in a botnet-for-hire.

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