- May 26, 2014
- 1,051
"We are in a dire situation right now, with tons of malware attacking Chrome OS users today," reports chief analyst of Avast Software, a big Czech-based security company with antivirus solutions towards windows and more recently, mac users. Kaspersky has detected vulnerabilities in the Flash plugin that Google runs. "We are hoping to deliver a valid antivirus solution ASAP."
Google is staying calm, however, telling users that they don't have any security threats at the moment, but ESET disagrees. "It's a huge malware target at the moment and if users aren't protected right away, many will be quickly infected with ransomware and other potential malware. Phishing is also another issue, reports BitDefender. BitDefender recently conducted a test and the results showed that Google Safe Browsing only protects against 56 % of all phishing websites. It fared slightly better in the malicious website test with 79% detected. However, BitDefender promises to do better in both categories with launching a new software named, allegedly, BitDefender Antivirus for Chrome OS, which will be rolling out in beta very soon.
Some antivirus companies aren't biting the bullet just yet though. The large, German based antivirus company Avira has dismissed all of the warnings stating that "Chrome OS will not get any security threats in a large timespan." Similarily, many smaller vendors have also declared that malware will not attack Chrome OS anytime "soon."
We interviewed Google representatives, who asked to not display their names, to ask for tips on keeping yourself safe. They replied, saying that as long as you keep Developer Mode off, there should not be any malware biting your computer. One of the representatives stated, "Google's security is tight enough for Chrome OS and any alleged 'Antivirus programs' are simply adding onto the burden of the machine in the first place.
What do you think?
Google is staying calm, however, telling users that they don't have any security threats at the moment, but ESET disagrees. "It's a huge malware target at the moment and if users aren't protected right away, many will be quickly infected with ransomware and other potential malware. Phishing is also another issue, reports BitDefender. BitDefender recently conducted a test and the results showed that Google Safe Browsing only protects against 56 % of all phishing websites. It fared slightly better in the malicious website test with 79% detected. However, BitDefender promises to do better in both categories with launching a new software named, allegedly, BitDefender Antivirus for Chrome OS, which will be rolling out in beta very soon.
Some antivirus companies aren't biting the bullet just yet though. The large, German based antivirus company Avira has dismissed all of the warnings stating that "Chrome OS will not get any security threats in a large timespan." Similarily, many smaller vendors have also declared that malware will not attack Chrome OS anytime "soon."
We interviewed Google representatives, who asked to not display their names, to ask for tips on keeping yourself safe. They replied, saying that as long as you keep Developer Mode off, there should not be any malware biting your computer. One of the representatives stated, "Google's security is tight enough for Chrome OS and any alleged 'Antivirus programs' are simply adding onto the burden of the machine in the first place.
What do you think?
