All Firefox users love addons. They are one of the primary reason that Firefox is the most popular browser today. But while Firefox is a secure browser (and you can count on it), the addons that you install could compromise its security. Thus as an AMO Editor who tries to contribute to the purpose by reviewing addons in my free time, I’d like to share this incident.
One of the users of Firefox — CatThief — brought this to our notice, so due credit to him. We at AMO found two addons containing malware which managed to reach the public due to their experimental status. Experimental addons are the ones which are not reviewed by our editor team at AMO and are made available to the general public with a warning — that the addon is experimental and has not been reviewed/approved by Mozilla. You can read more about the incident at the Mozilla Add-ons Blog.
Thus take extreme caution when installing experimental addons. You never know what is in them and they are still pending review by the Editor team. As a result of this incident we have updated our addon validation tools to detect viruses better. Nevertheless practicing caution and being aware are your best defense against malware and security breaches.
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