Google rewards Information Security Professionals | Ethical Hackers

In its latest security update, Google warns users of Chrome on one of the critical vulnerabilities exposed by information security professionals. Patch released addresses 11 vulnerabilities out of which, one is critical, while 5 others are rated high. Often major software companies rely on ethical hacking to uncover vulnerabilities in code or the systems they are hosted on. In this case, Google locked down its bug tracking database to hide the technical details of the bugs, but ethical hacking was used by information security professionals to reveal the vulnerabilities.

Google paid a thousand dollars prize money to the information security professionals for their findings. A problem with the autofill feature of Chrome, which facilitates automatic entry of names, credit card numbers and contact numbers on a website form, is identified as the cause of the vulnerability. Users experienced problems with the browser on the submission of a form on a website. The autofill feature was leading to browser collapse on form submission.

The critical vulnerability is revealed at a time, when Chrome is slowly gaining user base. Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera are other major Internet browsers popular among users. Of the remaining 6 vulnerabilities, three are rated as high risk and two as low risk vulnerabilities. Google aims to hasten the development of Chrome by releasing new versions at regular intervals. Chrome is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. Hackers are always on the lookout to find vulnerabilities and breach browsers, networks and systems. There is always a time lag between the release of a patch and its update by users.

Hackers take advantage of this time gap and slow response to security updates by users. Users can keep track of the security updates and releases from software developers to identify and apply right security patches for their security products. Adhering to security advisories, regularly installing anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions can help individuals and organizations to protect their systems and networks.