Items tagged with Chrome
Security researchers at Kaspersky have identified a new strain of malware affecting Chrome and Firefox browsers. The researchers say the malware's authors "put a lot of effort" into how it manipulates digital certificates and mucks with outbound TLS traffic, which ultimate compromises encrypted communications. "Analysis of the malware allowed us to confirm that the operators have some control over the target’s network channel and could replace legitimate installers with infected ones on the fly. That places the actor in a very exclusive club, with capabilities that few other actors in the world have," Kaspersky says. The malware allows an attacker to wreak havoc on a victim's PC remotely....
Read more...
Google is putting the final touches on a handful of new features headed to its Chrome browser, and today we get a glimpse of a few of them. For power surfers, the most interesting changes are those that apply to tab management. This is going to be more convenient on both desktop and mobile, with iOS users already having access to a tab grid layout. That same feature will arrive on Android sometime in the "next few weeks." Here is what it looks like on an iPhone running iOS 13 (with the new dark mode in IOS enabled)... You can rearrange tabs, but when it rolls out on Android, users will be able to group them as well. They can do this simply by tapping and dragging a tabbed page onto another within...
Read more...
Google has announced a new initiative that it is aiming at improving user privacy on the web. The goal is to develop a set of open standards that will fundamentally enhance privacy on the internet, and it's called the Privacy Sandbox. There are many issues with privacy online today, and Google notes that technology that pushes publishers and advertisers to make advertising more relevant to people is being used beyond its original intent. Some of the data practices no longer match what users expect for privacy. Some browsers are trying to address the problem, but without a set of standards, some attempts at improving privacy have unintended consequences. One of the things that is having unintended...
Read more...
When Microsoft decided to move its browser to Chromium, significant changes were bound to happen with Microsoft working on code for Chromium. One of the things that Microsoft is working on improving for Chromium is battery life for devices when users are working away from an outlet. A new experimental feature is in testing that will improve battery life by disabling media caching to disk. The change lessens disk activity allowing the browser to consume less power. Microsoft had the battery life lead in browsers with Edge, and it is looking to extend its battery life lead to its new Chromium-based browser as well. The idea for the new feature that reduces battery consumption came from Microsoft's...
Read more...
Security-conscious Chrome users will want to download the Password Checkup extension to have it check over their passwords. The extension has reportedly found that 1.5% of all website logins are using compromised credentials. The figure is even higher for porn websites. The extension launched earlier this year, and after months of checking on security, Google is now sharing data. The extension is designed to warn users if they are using passwords and user names that have already been compromised and are publicly available. Those publicly available user names and passwords are among data that has been leaked in major hacks and other security breaches. With the extension installed, as you travel...
Read more...
Well, that was fast—websites have already found another end-around in Google's Chrome browsers to detect when a user is running in a private session, otherwise known as Incognito mode. This is an obvious privacy concern, though realistically, some users are simply ticked at not being able to easily thwart paywalled websites. This was supposed to have been addressed in the recent Chrome 76 update. For several years, websites have been able to leverage the FileSystem API in Chrome to detect if a user is running in Incognito mode. Sites requiring a subscription to access content—otherwise known as a paywall—could therefore block access during a private browsing session. In Chrome...
Read more...
Google has begun rolling out a new version of its popular Chrome browser for all available platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac on the desktop, and Android and iOS on mobile. The new Chrome 76 update brings with it some nifty changes. Chief among them is a tougher stance against Adobe's troublesome Flash plugin—it is now blocked by default. Flash is essentially a dead platform and browser plugin walking. Around this time in 2017, Adobe announced that it was putting Flash on life support until 2020, at which point it plans on pulling the plug. The web at large has moved on to HTML5. However, there are still sites and services that use Flash. As such, Google still gives users the option...
Read more...
Not all browser extensions are used for good. It was recently discovered that several Chrome and Firefox browser extensions were stealing data from individual users and corporations. The data included everything from passwords to genetic information. Sam Jadali of securitywithsam.com revealed that the following browser extensions were leaking data: Chrome Extensions Branded Surveys HoverZoom Panel Community Surveys PanelMeasurement SpeakIt! Firefox Extensions SaveFrom.net Helper Chrome and Firefox Extensions FairShare Unlock SuperZoom The extensions affected macOS, Windows, Chrome OS, and Ubuntu operating systems and Chromium-based browsers like Opera and Yandex. The collected...
Read more...
Google's Chrome browser has for a long time incorporated an Incognito Mode that aims to deliver web surfers more privacy when they are cruising the internet. The problem is that the feature doesn't prevent sites from detecting people who are using Incognito Mode. Google is now saying that later this month, Chrome will plug a loophole that has allowed sites to identify people in Incognito Mode. Google notes that this change will affect some publishers who have used the loophole to deter metered paywall circumvention. Google says that it wants users to be able to access the web privately no matter their reasons for doing so. There are a myriad of reasons why people might want to keep their...
Read more...
In the past nine years, Google has awarded over $5 million in bug bounties to security researchers who have found and disclosed security holes in the company's Chrome browser. That is a drop in the bucket for a company like Google, but an enormous sum in its own right. Going forward, bug hunters can expect even bigger payouts. Google is bumping up the reward amounts associated with its bug bounty program for Chrome. These are not minor increases, either—Google is tripling the maximum baseline reward amount from $5,000 to $15,000, and doubling the maximum reward amount for high quality reports from $15,000 to $30,000. In addition, it is doubling the bonus for bugs found by fuzzers running...
Read more...
Google is testing an new media control button in its Chrome browser that, when enabled, would allow users to pause and resume playing videos in tabs. As shown in the image above, the button appears in the upper-right side of the browser, next to the URL bar, and is accessible even for videos that are playing in background tabs. The feature is called Global Media Controls (GMC) and is available to test in the Canary build. You can install the Canary version of Chrome without overwriting your main Chrome installation (if you use that browser), as they can coexist without interrupting each other—it is like having a totally separate browser installed. As currently implemented, the play/pause...
Read more...
In this episode of HotHardware’s Two And Half Geeks Podcast, Marco and Dave chat about the beefy 2TB Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus, Samsung's more cost-efficient Galaxy S10e, HP's MONSTER Omen X Emperium 65 Gaming display, TheC64 -- a full-sized Commodore 64 reboot and more! Show Notes: 05:01 - Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB Review: Burly, Speedy NVMe Storage 12:28 - Samsung Galaxy S10e Review: Every Bit A Flagship For Less 22:30 - HP Omen X Emperium 65 Review: Massive 144Hz 4K G-SYNC Gaming 28:50 - TheC64 Is A Full Size Commodore 64 Reboot For 1980s Retro Gaming 35:17 - Study Claims Google Chrome Is Total Spyware And You Should Run To Firefox Now...
Read more...
It is common knowledge that websites like to track your activity through cookies, but might we be giving up a bit too much privacy when surfing the web? The answer may depend on the specific browser you are using. In a recent examination of Google Chrome, a tech expert said he uncovered some startling differences in how Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox browsers treat user privacy. Geoffrey A. Fowler is a technology journalist for The Washington Post. It was there that he posted an opinion piece on why he feels that "Chrome has become surveillance software," and why he made the switch to Firefox. The article sits behind a paywall, but has been reprinted at a few other places (hit the link in the Via...
Read more...
There are a multitude of suspicious website spread across the web. Should you stumble across a less-than-upstanding site for whatever reason, the common thing to do is close your browser window and carry on. Google wants to change that, though. Google now wants to know when you run across scammy sites so it can ultimately make the web a safer place for everyone. To facilitate a safer internet, it has launched a new Chrome extension that allows users to report suspicious sites to Safe Browsing. The extension is called the Suspicious Site Reporter. The extension helps to protect users by gathering data on sites the user deems suspicious and reporting them to Google Safe Browsing, which Google says...
Read more...
