Justin Schuh, security lead and engineering director at Google, is urging Chrome users to update their browser as fast as possible. This urgency has been caused by a threat discovered by the Google Threat Analysis team. The threat has been categorized as a “zero-day vulnerability.”
So, what does this mean?
Most software will always have a number of bugs that are fixed over time. The Chrome browser too had its own bugs. These bugs can often be harmless mishaps that cause the software to crash or reboot, but sometimes they can make the software vulnerable to a potential security threat.
Naturally, these bugs are fixed but not all can be detected in time. A “zero-day vulnerability” simply refers to a security bug that has existed for some time without the knowledge of the developer. It’s a bug that has been exploited by malicious attackers and affected users already. This is exactly what Google is dealing with at the moment.
However, updating your browser will patch up the bug and ensure the vulnerability is fixed. Updating your browser is quite easy and in most cases it will be donequickly and automatically, but in case you are not sure how to do it, you can follow these simple steps:
- First, head to your computer and open the Chrome browser.
- On the top right corner, you will see three stacked dots. Click on them right away.
- A drop-down menu appears. Click on Help.
- You will see another drop-down menu. Click on “About Google Chrome.”
This will take you to a new page where you will get a summary of the browser that you are using including its version. From that info, you can see if the browser is updated or not. In order to be safe from this “zero-day bug”, you will need to make sure the 72.0.3626.121 (Official Build) version of Chrome is running. In case your version is older than that, the browser will automatically update it for you. This will take a few seconds and you will be done.
Despite this small hitch, users don’t have anything to worry about. Google Chrome is still considered one of the most secure browsers available, and with it being the most popular in the world, it’s quite an achievement.
The search engine giant has invested a lot of resources in securing the browser in recent years and there haven’t been many security breaches associated with it. The company also offers what it calls “bug bounty” to third-party security experts. In essence, people get paid if they can point out existing bugs in Chrome’s code. This has helped weed out potentially harmful security flaws.
Google is also collaborating with other security experts to develop proactive strategies to address the changing security threats in the market. Even with these efforts, the browser is still not 100% foolproof. As a matter of fact, there’s no software out there that can meet this standard. It’s therefore common for these bugs to be reported time and time again.
The most important thing is to ensure that everything is addressed within the shortest time possible. It seems like Google is doing this at the moment. The solution is also simple enough for anyone to apply. All you need to do is to update your browser and that’s it.
