Google Chrome | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Google is planning to make Chrome faster in order to provide its users fast Internet browsing experience. Thanks to a new, open-source data and web compression algorithm for the Internet called Brotli , which Google announced last year to boost its web page performance. With Brotli, Google will speed up Chrome and users could get a significant performance boost in coming months. Google introduced Brotli last September and claimed that the new algorithm is a "whole new data format" that could reduce file sizes by up to 26 percent higher than Zopfli , the company's three-year-old web compression technology. Net result – Fast Internet Browsing In a post on Google+ on Tuesday, web performance engineer at Google Ilya Grigorik announced that the new algorithm is coming to Chrome soon, which will change the way files are compressed, improving loading speeds by a quarter. Besides faster loading speeds, Brotli also have additional benefits for smartphone users, which

Security researchers have uncovered a new piece of Adware that replaces your entire browser with a dangerous copy of Google Chrome , in a way that you will not notice any difference while browsing. The new adware software, dubbed " eFast Browser ," works by installing and running itself in place of Google Chrome The adware does all kinds of malicious activities that we have seen quite often over the years: Generates pop-up, coupon, pop-under and other similar ads on your screen Placing other advertisements into your web pages Redirects you to malicious websites containing bogus contents Tracking your movements on the web to help nefarious marketers send more crap your way to generating revenue Therefore, having eFast Browser installed on your machine may lead to serious privacy issues or even identity theft. What's Nefariously Intriguing About this Adware? The thing that makes this Adware different from others is that instead of taking contr

It comes as no surprise that today's cyber threats are orders of magnitude more complex than those of the past. And the ever-evolving tactics that attackers use demand the adoption of better, more holistic and consolidated ways to meet this non-stop challenge. Security teams constantly look for ways to reduce risk while improving security posture, but many approaches offer piecemeal solutions – zeroing in on one particular element of the evolving threat landscape challenge – missing the forest for the trees.  In the last few years, Exposure Management has become known as a comprehensive way of reigning in the chaos, giving organizations a true fighting chance to reduce risk and improve posture. In this article I'll cover what Exposure Management is, how it stacks up against some alternative approaches and why building an Exposure Management program should be on  your 2024 to-do list. What is Exposure Management?  Exposure Management is the systematic identification, evaluation,

Microsoft wants Windows 10 users to use its Edge browser , and the company is pulling every trick out to make it happen. In a newly leaked Windows 10 preview release ( build 10568 ) , Microsoft has added a new prompt that appears whenever you try to switch away from default apps, including Microsoft Edge . Considering the wide adoption of Microsoft's newest operating system Windows 10, it seems that users are still hesitant in adopting Edge browser that comes bundled with  Windows 10 . To help encourage a higher adoption of Microsoft's default apps bundled with Windows 10, the software giant seems to be taking some steps. Come, Give Microsoft Edge A Shot!  If you already have Microsoft Edge as your default browser, then installing another rival browser, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox , and switching the defaults will make a dialog box with " Give Microsoft Edge a shot " appear. The prompt highlights some of the latest features in

Remember when it took only 13 characters to crash Chrome browser instantly? This time, it takes 16-character simple URL string of text to crash Google Chrome instantly. Yes, you can crash the latest version of Chrome browser with just a simple tiny URL. To do this, all you need to do is follow one of these tricks: Type a 16-character link and hit enter Click on a 16-character link Just put your cursor on a 16-character link Yes, that's right. You don't even have to open or click the malformed link to cause the crash, putting the cursor on the link is enough to crash your Chrome. All the tricks mentioned above will either kill that particular Chrome tab or kill the whole Chrome browser. The issue was discovered by security researcher Andris Atteka , who explained in his blog post that just by adding a NULL char in the URL string could crash Chrome instantly. Atteka was able to crash the browser with a 26 character long string, which is given b

We found a high concern for cybersecurity tactics and an increased awareness of the challenges that it brings. This week, we shared lots of stories with our readers, and to help them in identifying the biggest malware threats to their online safety. We are here with the outline of our last week stories, just in case you missed any of them ( ICYMI ). We recommend you read the entire thing ( just click ' Read More ' because there's some valuable advice in there as well ). Here's the list: ➢ How Hackers Can Hack Your Gmail Accounts? Getting smarter in their phishing tactics, hackers have found out ways to fool Gmail's tight security system by bypassing its two-step verification. Hackers are now using text messages and phone-based phishing attacks to circumvent Gmail's security and take over your Gmail accounts. — Read more . ➢ Not Just Windows 10, Windows 7 and 8 Also Spy on You Laughing at controversial data mining and privacy invasion featur

Rejoice Chrome users! Google has made major improvements to its Chrome web browser that would once again make it one of the least memory eater browsers in the market. Although Chrome is used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide due to its simplicity and power, most people aren't happy with it because it uses too much memory and power. Google has now solved these problems. The most recent release of Chrome ( Chrome 45 ) is intended to make your browsing experience faster and more efficient. Google launched Chrome 45 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android two days ago, but the company announced in an official blog post Friday that the new version includes several new updates that focus on making the browser load faster and use less memory. Also Read:  I keep 200+ Browser Tabs Open, and My Computer Runs Absolutely Fine. Here's My Secret Chrome 45 Uses 10% Less RAM A major issue reported by Chrome users was the browser's consumption of PC mem

Get ready for a new Android Browser! Android ROM developer CyanogenMod has announced that it is working on a new browser for Android devices. Dubbed Gello , the open-source browser is based on Google's Chromium project and includes a ton of customization options for Android. The team provided a first look of Gello through a demo video that actually reveals a lot about the new Android browser. Some Specific Features of Gello include: " Save for Offline " Reading Mode Night Mode and Immersive Mode options Extensive site-by-site Privacy and Security Settings, including Ad Blocker Advanced Download Manager that allow you to rename files and select file paths Customized interface , including Tab Animations and Management Moreover, Lots of other granular controls. The Gello web browser would be aimed at those who prefer Android Open Source Project (AOSP) versions instead of Google's Android. The team noted that the Gello browser will not

Google was under fire of downloading and installing a Chrome extension surreptitiously and subsequently listened to the conversations of Chromium users without consent. After these accusations, a wave of criticism by privacy campaigners and open source developers has led Google to remove the extension from Chromium , the open-source version of the Chrome browser. The extension in question is " Chrome Hotword ," which was found to be responsible for offering the browser's famous " OK, Google " functionality. ' Ok, Google ' is certainly a useful feature that allows users to search for things via their voice when they use Google as their default search engine, but its something that also enables eavesdropping of every single conversation made by a user. Google Silently Listens to your Conversation This issue came to light by Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge , who says Google has silently installed black box code into the open-so

I don't know about your part, but I make heavy use of tabs. I currently have 200+ tabs open in my Google Chrome Web browser. And sometimes the number is even more. For me it's a daily thing, as I regularly open new tabs because of my habit of reading lots of stuff online, including cyber security updates, hacking news, knowledgeable articles of various categories, new recipes to cook something delicious and, of course, funny viral videos. Browsers — Everything for us, But Biggest Memory Eaters! I think you'll agree with me when I say: It's really hard to manage so many tabs on Chrome — and Firefox too. But worse still is the obstruction in the performance of your computer, as the tabs continue to run background processes and feed on your system's memory. It gets difficult to sort through them, everything slows down, and sometimes it crashes the browser itself. Doesn't it? But, I really don't face any issue while surfing on 200+ tabs at one time

Less than 24 hours after Google launched the new Phishing alert extension Password Alert , a security researcher was able to bypass the feature using deadly simple exploits. On Wednesday, the search engine giant launched a new Password Alert Chrome extension to alert its users whenever they accidentally enter their Google password on a carefully crafted phishing website that aimed at hijacking users' account. However, security expert Paul Moore easily circumvented the technology using just seven lines of simple JavaScript code that kills phishing alerts as soon as they started to appear, defeating Google's new Password Alert extension. Google shortly fixed the issue and released a new update to Password Alert extension that blocked the Moore's exploit. However, Moore discovered another way to block the new version of Password Alert, as well. The first proof of concept exploit by Moore relied on a JavaScript that looks for instances of warning screen every five mil

If you're a bug hunter and love playing with codes than you could grab as much as US$15,000 from Microsoft for finding out vulnerabilities in its latest Project Spartan browser . Yes, $15,000! It seems like Redmond don't want to take a chance to let hackers and cyber criminals get their hands on the company's latest Windows 10 operating system. On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that the company will be expanding its bug bounty program ahead of the release of Windows 10, which will include a two-month hunt for vulnerabilities in its new web browser, Project Spartan. So, it's time for security researchers and hackers to earn extra cash from Microsoft. For those who are unaware… What's Project Spartan? Project Spartan is Microsoft's project for its new web browser to replace the oldest Internet Explorer from its Windows operating system. Though the project is still very much under the developmental stage, Microsoft is making every effort to make Spartan

If you are really upset with Chrome browsers warnings that your HTTPS enabled website contains unsecured third-party contents that sometimes force your users to close the tab, Google has solved this problem for you. With the release of the next version of Google's popular browser, Chrome 43 , it may be easier for developers and system administrators to ensure HTTPS websites are not compromised by insecure HTTP resources. Until now, the current browsers of Google flag a ' mixed-content warning ' in the form of a yellow triangle over the padlock if any HTTPS page loads any resource from an unencrypted HTTP URL. What's mixed content? And… ...Why should I worry about Mixed content if I am using HTTPS on my web pages? If, say, your website has HTTPS enabled but your website's pages are loading contents, such as images, retrieved through regular, clear text HTTP URLs, then it is believed that the connection is only partially encrypted. Partial

Google has finally rolled out the latest version of its popular web browser, i.e. Chrome 42 for Windows, Mac, and Linux users that now lets websites send you alerts, no matter your browser is open or not. The release of the latest Chrome 42 version is a great deal as it costs Google more than $21,000. Yes, $21,000! The latest version of Chrome comes with fixes for 45 security vulnerabilities in the web browser, reported by different security researchers [listed below]. Let's know about the Major updates : Major updates and significant improvements for Chrome version 42 includes: Advanced Push API and Notifications API Disabled Oracle's Java plugin by default as well as other extensions that use NPAPI Patched 45 security bugs and paid out more than $21,000 Push API : Google includes Push API in its web browser for the first time. Push API, when combined with the new notifications API, allows websites to push notifications to you through y

Few weeks back, we reported how a string of just 13 characters could cause your tab in Chrome to crash instantly . However, there was an exception that this special 13 characters string was only working on Mac OS X computers with no impact on Windows, Android, or iOS operating systems. Now, a recent hack against Chrome browser could crash your Chrome version 41 and above for Mac OS X, Windows and Chrome OS. At the time of writing, Chrome 41 seems to crash on long and/or malformed URLs. The details of this crash bug, dubbed as AwSnap , is described on Github . Warning: DO NOT CLICK on this LINK , which actually points to a Reddit thread that crashes Chrome browser because a Reddit user-submitted post containing the crash content. Just like a post, crashing a thread via a comment is also possible. Chrome crash occurs only when accessing the long and/or malformed URLs through a web server, which means using file:// will not crash your Chrome browser. Examples of

Last year at Google I/O developer event, Google launched a limited beta " App Runtime for Chrome " (ARC) project, which now expanded to run millions of Android apps within Chrome browser. Google has released a new developer tool called App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) Welder that allows Android apps to run on Chrome for Linux, Windows, and OS X systems. App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) was an early experiment specifically designed for app developers, but now anyone can download it. Google Chrome's ARC Welder app can now run any of your favorite Android apps like WhatsApp, Candy Crush, Angry Birds, all from your Chrome web browser . ARC welder tool operates via some special runtime implemented using Native Client (NaCl) in-browser binary execution tech. Native Client is a Chrome sandboxing technology that allows Chrome plugins and apps to run at near-native speeds, taking full advantage of the system's CPU and GPU. Google ported complete Android s

You might be not aware of the companies that know pretty much everything related to your email activities like when you've opened email sent by one of their clients, where you are located, what device you're using, what link you click, all without your consent, even if you haven't click any link provided in that email. Companies like Yesware , Bananatag, and Streak track emails , usually by adding small pixels or images to those emails which inform the companies that when and where their emails have been opened by the recipients. If you find this something different then let you know that this sort of email tracking is very common practice adopted by many companies. However, in order to detect these tracking emails, now you have a simple but effective tool. UGLY EMAIL -- DETECT EMAIL TRACKERS Dubbed " Ugly Email ", a new Chrome extension warns you when an email you receive in your Gmail inbox have the ability to track you, and it even works before opening t

The Annual Pwn2Own Hacking Competition  2015 held in Vancouver is over and participants from all over the world nabbed $557,500 in bug bounties for 21 critical bugs in top four web browsers as well as Windows OS, Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash. During the second and final day of this year's hacking contest, the latest version of all the four major browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari, were compromised by the two security researchers. Sponsored by HP's Zero Day Initiative program, the Pwn2Own Hacking Competition ran two days at a security conference in Vancouver, Canada. The final highlights for Pwn2Own 2015 are quite impressive: 5 bugs in the Windows operating system 4 bugs in Internet Explorer 11 3 bugs in Mozilla Firefox 3 bugs in Adobe Reader 3 bugs in Adobe Flash 2 bugs in Apple Safari 1 bug in Google Chrome $557,500 USD bounty paid out to researchers The star of the show was South Korean secur