Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Interesting Topic

If someone's looking for a blog post topic... First come, first served.

Malware infects space station laptop
Posted by Mike Chapple at 9/02/2008 09:04:00 AM

9 comments:

  1. BrendanSeptember 2, 2008 at 5:20 PM

    Speaking of interesting topics, has anyone tried the new Google Browser? I have been looking around to try and find out what makes it special. Apparently, on top of its simple look and streamlined personalization process, the best part about it is its ability to "sandbox" tabs. Basically, if one tab crashes, it will be protected and your other tabs will not be affected.

    Now, I have used and liked Firefox since it came out, but I have been frustrated by tab crashes. I never knew what happened to the information in the crashed tab when I had to close it, and I hated when one tab crashing would prevent the other tabs from working. I can think of times that this happened when I was using online banking (because B of A online banking is never reliable), making an online purchase, checking email, and staying on Facebook at the same time.

    I just accepted crashes and the tab-wide consequences when they occurred, so I would be happily surprised if Google actually fixed this. Furthermore, as it might apply to our class, I imagine that "sandboxing" crashes would better protect online exchanges from falling apart and, ultimately, keep dropped information from falling into the wrong hands.

    So, in short, it looks like Google's aptly named "Chrome" browser seriously improves browsing security. Or, if nothing else, it is another shot to Microsoft, which I absolutely enjoy.

    What does everyone else think?
    Brendan

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  2. Mike ChappleSeptember 3, 2008 at 9:34 AM

    That's an interesting perspective, Brendan. I just downloaded Chrome last night and started playing with it but haven't really had a chance to put it through any kind of workout yet.

    Has anyone else given it a try?

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  3. JackSeptember 3, 2008 at 10:10 AM

    I tried downloading it, but I use a Mac and apparently the Mac and Linux version is still under development.

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  4. Mike ChappleSeptember 3, 2008 at 11:10 AM

    It looks like someone's already discovered a vulnerability in the new browser. See:

    http://www.securiteam.com/securitynews/5TP010UPFU.html

    Now, to be fair, it doesn't seem like an extremely serious problem and the release of Chrome is a beta release, so I don't think this is a big deal, but it's a good example of how problems arise in complex systems.

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  5. Mike ChappleSeptember 3, 2008 at 1:16 PM

    And here's a much more serious vulnerability I just came across this afternoon:

    http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/security_flaw_in_google_chrome.php

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  6. KatieSeptember 3, 2008 at 5:38 PM

    I think Google really messed up here. As the article explains, this flaw was already found (and fixed!) by Apple before it released it's new browser. Google is supposed to be both an innovative and reliable company, so it's both surprising and disappointing that it missed this problem.
    In addition to this, I think that there is the potential for many people to be effected by viruses from the 'download" link. When working with a new browser, many people have a hard time figuring out how things work. It would not surprise me at all if many unknowing victims are attacked using this type of virus from Google Chrome. I'm not sure if Google has put up a warning for new users trying to download the browser, but if they haven't they definitely should in order to prevent attacks on their users.
    -Katie

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  7. madman8792September 4, 2008 at 11:13 AM

    Well besides the warning signs they could potentially put up. What are the other things they could do instead of this. And for those people who were the first victims of these attacks, how do they clean out their systems and continue to trust this site.

    Another question I had was, with all the anti-spy ware out how can one figure out which is the best for their computer without downloading a harmful fake?

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  8. Mike ChappleSeptember 4, 2008 at 1:08 PM

    One of the easiest ways to get spyware protection is download the free McAfee antivirus/antispyware package that Notre Dame offers to all students, faculty and staff. It's at:

    http://secure.nd.edu/antivirus/index.shtml

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  9. irishSeptember 7, 2008 at 2:56 PM

    From a general technology standpoint it baffles me as to why google is attempting to create its own browser. Google is the leading internet search engine and also the leader in internet advertising related to searches. They have such a solid reputation for that and is the reason that im sure many people, myself included, use google exclusively to search for internet content. Why risk the damage to a sterling reputation by trying to chrome it out?

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