Google Chrome Retains Its Lustre in Hacking Contest

30 Mar 2010 by Graham Lyons - News Google Chome No Comments

We harp on about security here on the Cozy Digital, it is an aspect to online life that many people seem unaware of. So when a browser manages to come through squeaky clean from a hacking contest then is it then worth recommending that browser to web users?

Google Chrome Logo The tech blog on Forbes.com reports that the Pwn2Own competition in Vancouver is a yearly event where software hackers attempt to circumvent and compromise some high profile scalps from the software world. This year the very popular Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer earned their respective hackers the princely sum of $10,000.

Big news that for the second year running Google’s up-and-coming Chrome browser walked untroubled from the hacking-fest, detractors may try to play this down to the relatively small portion of the market that Chrome commands, but Safari has even less market share but found itself compromised by the researchers.

Google would no doubt vaunt Chrome’s inherently secure “sandboxing” structure as the reason for these back-to-back results, but this must really put a line in said sand for next years competition. Surely any hacker looking to make a reputation for themselves will look at this browser security figure head with aspirations of making their mark.

For home users this asks the question whether this is a good reason to swap browsers – in my opinion I would look whether the browser is actively being developed, if there are regular security updates then many of the issues that effect the average web user should hopefully be addressed.

..More information can be found on Forbes.com Firewall Blog and the Google Chrome homepage.