An Israeli based developer has recently hinted at the possibility of clients losing crucial information to unscrupulous recipients, thanks to a flaw in Google Chrome’s security design algorithms as it stands now.
Chrome Generated Transcripts of User Conversations
A bug could listen into your conversation and send such information to the crooks. It is reported that a hacker may possibly turn on your computer microphone and collect conversation in the background without the slightest clue that such a process is going on. Guy Aharanovsky says that he has raised the issue with Google several times but no one seems to pay attention. The developer reported to the International Business Times that Google has not been very keen on preventing such an eventuality despite his detailed warning.
Prompted to Action
After noticing that the information concerning the possible flaw has been taken to popular media, Google responded by reporting that they are looking into the matter. The initial response was something of a dismissal of the alert. Google had downplayed the danger saying that it posed low severity to users in the wider world. However, the latter news shows that Google has taken the matter with greater severity now. According to Google spokesman, the company is investigating the possible flaw. Mr. Aharanovsky says that Google’s response to the alert was typical of large corporate reactions. They do not want to acknowledge weaknesses in their systems for fear of losing clients.
Heartbleed
The Google Chrome browser alert comes in the wake of another recent discovery, not associated with Google Chrome, of a bug named Heartbleed. Reliable sources detailed the existence of the bug and noted a worrying fact that the bug has been in existence for a long time without being noticed. There is fear that millions of passwords may have been unscrupulously accessed courtesy of the bug activity. Such a possibility makes many users across the web vulnerable to theft.
No Reported Harm Yet
On the flaw in the Google Chrome browsers, luckily for them, there is no evidence yet of any harm that has been experienced by a user. Google should perhaps be thankful to the discovery by Guy Aharanovsky since it could have been a different matter if the discovery of the flaw had been made by some psychopath. The potential for harm, if the flaw was to be exploited by a criminal, would be quite high according to the Israeli based developer.
The Danger Demonstrated
The Israeli developer who Google might hate and love in the same breath says that the malicious bug could be triggered by a click on a malicious page on the net. Such a click could trigger automatic recording of verbal information by turning on your computer microphone. Strangely, it is possible for the bug to turn on your microphone even if you had turned it off from your Chrome settings.
Unconventional Bug
Such a bug is unconventional because, whereas other bugs rely on leading users to click on a virus on a website, this bug uses trick sites to launch.
Google Remains Noncommittal
Google has not given a clear indication of when they will have a complete handling of the flaw in their browser. In fact, they have not openly admitted the existence of such a flaw.
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