Google Chrome

We were made aware that phishing for Skype credentials is currently taking place. The link the phishing mails direct to are dangerous – they aren’t detected by any phishing filter of the popular browsers yet. One thing caught my attention. Modern browsers should support domain highlighting so that the real domain is visible when someone surfs the Internet. Like Internet Explorer 8 properly does: There you can clearly see that you are not on the Skype website, but on another domain. ...

Google has confirmed that it’s future operating system Chrome OS will have an integrated media player that will offer basic codec support , so that users can directly play audio or video files from Gmail or from USB drives or other media devices. In an interview with Ars Technica, Matthew Papakipos, the lead engineering director for the Chrome OS project, shared that Chrome OS will have a complete media player that approximates the functionality of Windows Media Player. ...

With the latest release of their browser, v.4.0, Google has published a long expected feature: Browser Extensions. Now Chrome features what other browsers like Firefox, IE, Opera and so on offer for a long time already. But, being able to compete with the others better doesn’t mean that they have solved all problems. Actually, their problems just start to appear – because adding extensions in the browser is just the same as opening Pandora’s box. ...

The stable channel has been updated to 4.0.249.78 for Windows, and includes the following features and security fixes (since 3.0): Extensions Bookmark sync Enhanced developer tools HTML5: Notifications, Web Database, Local Storage, WebSockets, Ruby support v8 performance improvements Skia performance improvements Full ACID3 pass, due to re-enabled remote font support (with added defense against bugs in operating system font libraries) HTTP byte range support New security feature: “Strict Transport Security” support Experimental new anti-reflected-XSS feature called “XSS Auditor” Security Fixes: ...

Ben Edelman, Harvard privacy researcher and guru has revisited the features of Google Toolbar and was appalled to discover that disabling it doesn’t really disable it. He is recommending that all users uninstall it. In a long, thorough and well-written piece on his blog Edelman discusses how he monitored the Toolbar’s behavior with a network sniffer and documented the transmission of data back to Google (to toolbarqueries.google.com). Not only does it track a user’s Google searches, but it also phones home information about searches done in other search engines. ...

Adobe Flash is a well well known plugin used today by most of the internet users. Its next upgrade i.e version 10.1 will get private browsing support. Flash player will now automatically clean all flash history of your computer once you end the session. It will use the same technique as used in browsers supporting private browsing. As you end the session the browsers in private mode automatically clears cookies, history and data, similarly flash will also remove any user password, login information or data stored that were associated while working in flash environment. ...

The third version of Firefox has emerged as the most successful leader in the browser category of all alternatives to Internet Explorer. Since the official launch of its first release in mid 2008 has not only grown in use but also in popularity, although during this time there was a launch of the greatest threat that has known so far, Google Chrome. That is why, people from Mozilla are working hard to beat newcomer in the race to become the most popular browser. It is true that the current “saga” still has to cut fabric, then Firefox 3.6 It is planned for early 2010, and Firefox 3.7 will happen a few months later, respectively including versions 1.9.2 and 1.9.3 Gecko engine. ...

It’s the time of year to make predictions. I only have one: in 2010, governments around the world will BEGIN to increase their efforts to do something about the massive malware threat that every Internet user on the planet faces. It’s going to be controversial and difficult legally and technically. It’s going to cost serious tax money, political capital and diplomatic work to counter this crime wave that is like nothing the world has ever known. ...

Google Chrome arrived yesterday as a Windows beta with a comic explaining multi-process tabs and a reputation for speed. Another browser is the last thing some people wanted. For web developers and security folks, it is a big signal: the rendering engine wars are back. Mac and Linux versions do not exist yet. This is a Windows-only beta — but the design choices are worth studying regardless of platform. What Is Different Separate processes per tab — one crash does not take down everything Sandboxing ambitions — harder for web content to touch the system V8 JavaScript engine — fast enough to change how web apps feel in the browser Minimal UI — the address bar doubles as search, fitting Google’s habits Incognito mode — private browsing without digging through menus Silent auto-update — patches ship without a user-facing version bump Chrome uses WebKit for rendering — the same engine family as Safari — with Google’s own V8 replacing JavaScriptCore for script execution. ...