AI Summary

Researchers have identified 148 npm packages that masqueraded as student web proxies, but instead turned browsers into a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet for approximately two weeks in May. These packages, which were hosted on the npm registry, did not target the developers who installed them. Instead, the operators used the registry as a free hosting platform for a compromised proxy site, which then infected visitors' browsers and turned them into a botnet. The significance of this development lies in the fact that it highlights the potential for malicious actors to exploit open-source package repositories, such as npm, for their own purposes.

AI summaries can be wrong sometimes—always verify important details using the source article.