Chrome

Google released the newest version of its popular Chrome Web browser Tuesday, fixing 18 security glitches and adding a convenient new feature for its customers. 

Google classified seven of the vulnerabilities fixed in Chrome version 19.0.1084.46 as high-risk flaws, meaning they could be exploited to take control of infected systems. Chrome users can update to version 19 by clicking the wrench icon in the top right corner of the browser and selecting "About Google Chrome"; if your browser hasn't automatically updated itself, it will prompt you.

Google attempted to introduce a new approach to computing when it first launched Chrome OS in 2010. The operating system consists of little more than a fullscreen Web browser perched atop a rigorously-hardened Linux environment. The platform makes some unusual trade-offs, eschewing conventional native applications in exchange for bulletproof security and low-maintenance stateless computing. 

Google has released a beta of Chrome 19 bringing with it a new tab syncing feature - where tabs you have open on one device are available on all your other devices by clicking a new “Other devices” menu on the New Tab page. The tab’s back and forward navigation history is also included, so you can pick up browsing right where you left off.  

Kaspersky Lab researchers have found a criminal gang playing cat and mouse with Google by releasing several variations of its malware laden Chrome extensions, hosting them on the official Google Web store.

The malware pretends to be a Flash Player installer but instead downloads a trojan which writes messages a victim's Facebook profile and automatically likes certain pages. The researchers say that variations of the attacks have been found, however, it has so far largely been confined to Brazil and other Portuguese speaking nations. 

At a Google-run competition in ­Vancouver last month, the search giant’s famously secure Chrome Web browser fell to hackers twice. Both of the new methods used a rigged ­website to bypass Chrome’s security protections and completely hijack a target computer. But while those two hacks defeated the company’s defenses, it was only a third one that actually managed to get under Google’s skin.

A security researcher based in Russia pocketed a cool $60,000 from Google on Wednesday after he submitted a a "full exploit" for a vulnerability in the difficult-to-compromise Chrome browser.

The winning entry was part of the inaugural Pwnium contest, in which Google is offering up to $1 million in prizes for bug hunters who can find a way to defeat its browser's much-vaunted sandbox architecture. The competition occurs at the annual CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia and coincides with the well-known Pwn2Own contest, run by HP TippingPoint.

At last year’s CanSecWest Pwn2Own hacker contest, Google Chrome was the only browser left standing.  This year, Chrome was the first to fall, thanks to an impressive exploit from a team of French hackers.

VUPEN, the controversial company that sells vulnerabilities and exploits to government customers, deliberately took aim at Chrome this year to send a simple message: no software is unbreakable if hackers have enough motivation to prepare and launch an attack.

Google pushed out another update to its Chrome Web browser Sunday, fixing 14 holes three days before Chrome's trial by fire in an annual hacking competition.

The latest version, 17.0.963.65, fixes errors with cursors, backgrounds and plug-ins not loading, as well as issues with copying and pasting text and using touch controls on websites, according to the official Chrome blog.

Since version 13, Google's Chrome browser has been able to pre-load and pre-render pages to minimise potential waiting times when a user clicks on a link. However, users may never actually look at these pages – for example, because they click on a different link. According to NetApplications, the number of pre-loaded, but unread pages accounted for 4.3% of all page visits with Chrome in February 2012.

Google is offering hackers $1 million in prize money to find and exploit new security flaws in its Chrome Web browser, the company said Tuesday.