Following in the footsteps of Microsoft and, earlier today, Apple, Google is also promising to push an update to its browser that seeks to mitigate the impact of Meltdown and Spectre, the two vulnerabilities found in the operation of modern CPUs that have left a bevvy of devices vulnerable to the loss of privileged data.
The company has promised that the next version of Chrome, dubbed Chrome 64, will include 'mitigations to protect against exploitation'. No other details are provided, however, as to what these measures will include. The update is expected to release on January 23.
For those who can't wait that long and would rest a little easier not leaving their data unprotected for more than two weeks, Google also pointed to Site Isolation, an experimental feature available on the current stable build for Chrome, as one way users can take action right now. The feature works by 'isolating websites into separate address spaces'. Instructions on how to activate the feature can be found here.
The rather lax response time from Google, in comparison to the comparatively swift patches being pushed by competing browsers, is surprising given the company has maintained a reputation for regularly pushing out updates to its browser, in most cases, at a much faster cadence than its competition. Moreover, these vulnerabilities were, in fact, first discovered by Google, which should have given the company plenty of time to prepare for safeguarding the browser used by the majority of PC users.
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