Earlier this month, Google released a new version of its Chrome browser; version 59. It included patches for thirty vulnerabilities. Five of them are considered high severity. The company shelled out over $23,000 to bug hunters to find these. Some include issues with Bluetooth app functionality, browser print preview functions, and many others. In addition, Google announced the development of a new and interesting product that, while intriguing to users, may irritate advertisers.
Google has been in a persistent battle with address spoofing vulnerabilities. Since last fall, about a dozen of them have been addressed. One of them could have led to Unicode phishing attacks. This deals with how Google displays foreign characters. It could allow attackers to convince users to land on pages that appear legitimate, but then ask them to enter personal login or financial credentials.
Anyone using Chrome is advised to update the product immediately. You can do this by clicking the three little dots in the upper right corner of the browser and then clicking on settings and then the About option. You can also get to the “About” options from the menu across the top. If you do manual updates, you can update it from this page, which is also where you can see the version you’re using. If you don’t have automatic updates enabled, consider doing that so you don’t have make an effort stay on top of updates like this one.
Interestingly, news also came out that Goggle will be debuting a new ad-blocking tool for its browser in 2018. It doesn’t necessarily block every single ad on a webpage, but is supposed to block those on sites that are deemed to provide users with a “bad advertising experience.”
It isn’t clear what exactly that means yet, but it’s likely to irritate and frustrate advertisers, at least initially. That said, Google did give advertisers, publishers, and agencies a six-month advance warning that this would happen in hopes it is adequate time for them to prepare.
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