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Bournemouth, UK (10th September 2008) – Randy Abrams, Director of Technical Education at ESET, recommends that users wait a while before using Google’s web browser, Chrome. The fact that one of the first vulnerabilities to come to light shows that known, vulnerable code was used, should persuade users to only use Chrome when they are not particularly worried about what they might lose. Abrams cites that this oversight by Google is indicative of either a lack of attention to security in development, or a mandate to put something out there by a certain date without regard for quality, at least from a security standpoint.

“Google's inattentiveness to security was one of the feature presentations at the Blackhat conference this year,” says Randy Abrams, ESET. “Anyone who has followed Google with respect to security would not trust that Chrome will be safe to use for quite some time. Google is at about the same place Microsoft was a decade ago. They have some bright security people, but marketing is trampling over security right, left and centre. Like Microsoft, security inside of Google is only likely to have an appropriate voice when their lack of security starts to affect the bottom line.”

Abrams also points out that to suggest the tabs sandboxing features as anything other than preventing crashes within the browser, may lead to users having a false sense of security. Although Chrome’s built-in sandboxing for each tab mitigates some of the security risk, it does not protect a user who visits a malicious site and then conducts personal or financial transactions in the same tab.

“If you throw bullies and weaklings into the same sandbox, the bully still kicks the crap out of the weakling,” concludes Randy Abrams. “In every day terms… if one tab is compromised and the same tab is used to visit your bank, your money is not safe.”

Security is not the only factor that users should be concerned about. Although last week Google altered the wording of its EULA (End User Licence Agreement), which effectively gave Google copyright over content displayed in Chrome, similar phrasing still exists in other products such as Blogger and Google Docs. Abrams says that despite Google’s claims to be the “good guys”, their lawyers have the same attitude as many other corporations – take as much as you can and only retreat when necessary.

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About ESET
ESET develops software solutions that deliver comprehensive protection against evolving computer security threats. ESET pioneered and continues to lead the industry in proactive threat detection. ESET NOD32 Antivirus, its flagship product, consistently achieves the highest accolades in all types of comparative testing and is the foundational product that extends the ESET product line to include ESET Smart Security. Both products have an extremely efficient code base that avoids the unnecessary large footprint found in some solutions. This means faster scanning that doesn’t slow down computers or networks.

Sold in more than 110 countries, ESET has worldwide production headquarters in Bratislava, SK and worldwide distribution headquarters in San Diego, U.S. ESET also has offices in UK, Argentina and Czech Republic and is globally represented by an extensive partner network. For more information, visit www.eset.co.uk or call 0845 838 0832.

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Contact Name: Sara Claridge
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google | security | malware | eset | chrome |

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