Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers around with over 2 billion users worldwide using it. Popularity can sometimes have the impact of being the victim of success, and when it comes to security issues this is likely to the be the case with the Chrome browser. Since Chrome is so popular it makes it a ripe and easy target for hackers and most recently, Google has released its second security warning about the browser in as many months.
In the latest warning, Google has disclosed 5 new warnings which are described as critical and of high importance. What is worrying about this alert is that it affects Chrome on many of the major operating systems, such as Windows, Linux and MacOS.
Google have not released much specific information about the threats. Some may think that this isn’t very helpful, but this is often what normally happens in these situations because of one key reason. Releasing information serves to be an advantage for the hackers, because it means they are able to tweak their malware to allow it to continue to cause problems and corrupt more devices. Google’s aim is always to be one step ahead in these situations, so they can come up with solutions to the problems, roll these out as quickly as possible and close the problem down once and for all – giving the hackers little chance to evolve and adapt.
The five issues which have been highlighted focus on the UAF (Use After Free) functionality. This is associated with dynamic memory within operation of the web browser. If an error occurs within this, hackers can use it to exploit systems, and this is exactly what Google is worried about.
Rest assured that behind the scenes, Google is formulating a comprehensive plan to ensure that any of these loopholes are closed down, even for those that don’t read this post and follow the important advice that is listed below.
I am a Chrome user, what can I do about this?
Google suggests that everyone who uses Chrome checks their current version of browser and update to the latest one if required. Your version of operation can be found by going to Settings, then help, then About Google Chrome.
Google deserve credit because they are quick to alert users to potential safety breaches and come up with solutions to have them fixed. Because of Google’s popularity, these types of hacks are happening more often, and users need to regularly be alert to constant and present threats that they can face when browsing online. Google is in a difficult position because it does not want to be the brand that despite its popularity, ends up turning people away because of the worry and risk of security issues.
Of course, as is always the case in these situations, knowledge and information is only part of the solution. The other half of the solution relies on people following the updates and making it more difficult for these hackers to thrive off the problems they create.
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