There's no perfect privacy

found on Reddit

You can keep things private from the people you live with or maybe even the sites that you visit, but not the company that makes your browser. Just something to think about while you use a browser made by an advertising company

The biggest target takes the most hits

from here and here

Apparently Chrome has more than twice as many vulns this year as the next leading browser. I know more vulnerabilities doesn't necessarily mean Chrome is less secure than it's competitors. It has the most market share so it gets the most attention from people trying to find vulnerabilities. However, while that doesn't make it less secure, it does make it less safe. More attention from attackers (successful attention at that it appears) means that users of the software face more attacks than users of the alternative browser - and that has been the rationale behind using alternative software for a long time. If you're using something that has a smaller target on it's back, you're less likely to fall victim.

Look who thinks they won the browser wars

from here and here

Who's looking forward to seeing their ad blocker get lobotomized? That seems to be where we're headed if Google has it's way. It reminds me a little bit of the controversy over PatchGuard in Windows Vista years ago. A security mechanism was added to the system that blocked access to functionality that malware and security software alike made use of. 

Google's new extension system will basically be doing something similar, with ad blockers getting the short end of the stick. One of the big differences here, though, is that Google is the world's largest advertising company, so they will definitely have an incentive to not make exceptions for ad blockers, even though those are an important way to block malware online.

If ad blocking performance deteriorates too much in Google Chrome in comparison to other browsers, though, Google is going to start losing their dominant position in the browser market.

When advertising companies make browsers

from here and here

I mean, when you factor in the fact that Google is an ad company, their desperation to keep tracking people makes sense, but it's still desperation, and each year they drag out the end of tracking further just looks more and more desperate.

Thanks, I hate it Microsoft

from here and here

I wonder how many people signed off on this plan without realizing they were turning an Office update into malware.

Easier said than done

from here (image source)

Every time a vendor issues a shoddy update it undermines what would otherwise be good security advice. For all effort Google seems to put into security research, their inadequate quality control harmed it by giving people yet another reason to avoid applying updates. Vulnerabilities and threat actors may be sexy security topics, but people are still failing at the basics like applying updates. Maybe Google should focus more on helping them with those basics.

Pull my other leg, Google

from here

Imagine being so tone deaf about tracking that you argue against what others are doing and what users are asking for, all the while apparently oblivious to your own perverse incentives. Of course Google believes tracking is good and necessary - they're paid to believe that.