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Hoping to stem the tide of fraudulent extensions, Google has instituted two new security measures, including a one-time $5 signup fee. Since introducing extensions to Chrome, the gallery has accumulated some 6,000 add-ons and over 10 million are downloaded every month. Despite existing security features, malicious software still makes its way into the gallery and Google believes charging people to publish their work will help block the garbage.
Starting today, developers will have to pay $5 to gain the ability to publish extensions and themes, and it will apply to apps in the near future. The company is waiving that fee for anyone who registered with the gallery before 11AM PST today, and they can go about their business as usual. The second addition is domain verification. Developers can now associate their extensions with domains they own or manage to help users identify "official" extensions.