The download manager program Internet Download Manager (IDM) has been used by users for many years to download things from the Internet. Now, the emerging information shows that an extension that has been on the Chrome Web Store since 2019 and uses the name of this program is dangerous for your computer.
As it is known, IDM is a very famous and secure service in internet environments. However, observations made by BleepingComputer revealed that a fake extension named ‘Internet Download Manager’ carries risks.
Fake Internet Download Manager has more than 200,000 users
The report reported that the extension exhibits undesirable behavior and contains adware. Users encountered risky situations such as this extension named ‘Internet Download Manager’ opens links to spam sites, changes the default search engine, and pop-ups asking for unwanted applications to be downloaded.
After that, it turned out that the extension imitated the Internet Download Manager we know. Real IDM is a program owned by Tonec and can be downloaded to Windows. In addition, Tonec offers users an extension of IDM for Firefox and Chrome. However, the name of this extension, unlike the one mentioned, is ‘IDM Integration Module’. So you see, someone is putting people at risk by imitating this famous program.
As a result of the investigations, it was seen that the fake extension was operated by a site called ‘Puupnewsapp’, which claimed to increase your download speed by 500%, and it turned out that it had nothing to do with Tonec. We can say that it is interesting that the extension remained in Chrome for such a long time, and that it is used by more than 200,000 people is quite worrying.
Tonec also confirmed that such extensions are fake and warned users to stay away from them. Bleeping Computer also stated that the extension was reported to Google. After that, it was seen that the extension could not be reached from the store. If you are one of those who downloaded this fake program, we recommend that you delete it immediately and be more careful about such things in the future.
True IDM extension
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