Google Chrome is reportedly riddled with security issues
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Google Chrome is riddled with potential security vulnerabilities that could put millions of users at risk, a report said.
Atlas VPN’s new research cites data from the VulDB vulnerability database (opens in new tab) claims that Google’s famed browser has discovered 303 vulnerabilities so far and is an “all-time leader with a total of 3,159 cumulative vulnerabilities.”
What’s more, of all the most commonly used browsers (opens in new tab) around today, Chrome is the only one to have seen newly discovered vulnerabilities as early as October 2022.
Safari performs well
The report noted that Mozilla’s Firefox browser had seen 117 vulnerabilities so far in 2022, while Microsoft Edge discovered 103 this year.
The numbers are 61% more than last year as a whole, with AtlasVPN noting that this is “an unusually high number” for a browser with only 806 total vulnerabilities since release.
Apple’s Safari, on the other hand, has “one of the lowest vulnerability rates in years.” The world’s second largest browser had 26 documented vulnerabilities in the first nine months of the year, while it had cumulatively “only” 1,139 identified vulnerabilities.
Opera has had zero documented vulnerabilities and a total of 344 errors this year.
While Atlas VPN didn’t say it in a definitive way, it did state that Chrome, Edge, and Opera are all built on the Chromium engine, suggesting that Chromium bugs can affect all of these browsers.
To keep your endpoints safe, the company says, users should always make sure their browsers are up to date and take extra care when choosing which plugins to install. In addition, they should always be wary of phishing, as cyber criminals often use communication channels to distribute malicious code that can exploit various flaws in browsers.
TechRadar Pro has reached out to Google for comment on the findings and will update this article if we hear from them.