Well it’s official. Google chrome, the new web browser from Google has survived the Pwn2Own annual “hackfest” without so much as an attempt! In fact, this is the second year without an attempt!
For those who are unfamiliar with Pwn2Own, it is the annual competition that focuses on finding security holes in mainstream software and is currently in it’s forth year. Even though Chrome is currently beta software, I recommend it highly for those that want to maintain security while they are browsing on the internet!
Chrome works differently from other browsers in that it uses a process called “sandboxing” where processes are given as few rights as possible to get the particular task done on the web. Sandboxing also restricts processes between tabs, keeping the tabs separate from one another. In addition, if a malicious web site, or one which would normally freeze or crash an entire browser, is encountered, it will “crash” the current tab, not the whole browser!
While I still use Firefox for much of my day to day browsing, I am finding myself using Chrome more often, especially as it adds more features such as extensions and theming. You can learn more about Chrome here or download it for Windows here.