StudentMediaWire

An expert in computer security has warned early adopter students not to start using Google’s new Chrome browser just yet.

Randy Abrams, Director of Technical Education at software firm ESET, recommends that users wait – otherwise they may be making themselves vulnerable to hackers.

Abrams cites an early insecure code oversight by Google as an indication that either a lack of attention to security in development, or a mandate to put something on the market by a certain date without regard for quality, is a reason to be concerned.

“Google’s inattentiveness to security was one of the feature presentations at the Blackhat conference this year,” he says. “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, says Abrams. 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.