If you are a Windows user and have Chrome installed in your PC, this latest warning will impact you – it is vital that you just update your browser as soon as possible…
Another necessary Chrome update has just been released
Another Chrome security update has just been released, with the stable channel updated to 124.0.6367.78/.79. This release features a critical fix for the underlying graphics engine that has allowed attackers to execute code heading in the right direction computers previously – although there isn’t any news of possible exploitation this time around.
The update also includes two high-severity memory fixes typically encountered with such updates. Google has admitted that such memory vulnerabilities are mostly discovered and exploited in its core engine. As usual, there will likely be no further information “until the majority of users are updated with a fix.”
Given that Google rated the primary fix – essentially a vulnerability for potential code manipulation – as critical, it seems very likely that it’s a reputable threat. And once the fix is released, it is vital that users update as quickly as possible – the clock is ticking for any exploitation.
Normally a critical fix would have been the most important Chrome news of the week, but not this time. The other news is that the death of Chrome’s dreaded tracking cookies has been delayed again – this time no less than until early 2025.
The problem is that Google has to balance the privacy of its users with the seemingly fair treatment of its advertisers, especially when Google is actually playing each gamekeeper (because the owner of the browser) and poacher (because the world’s largest promoting engine).
“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges associated with balancing diverse feedback from the industry, regulators and developers,” Google said in an announcement post mid-week, “and will continue to work closely with the entire ecosystem.”
This is a vital update of a very different kind.
The update comes as a part of Google’s ongoing work with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) because it seeks to seek out a way out of this difficult situation. “We will not complete the phase-out of third-party cookies in the second half of the fourth quarter,” Google confirmed. “Provided we can reach an agreement, we plan to move forward with phasing out third-party cookies from early next year.”
Given its unique role within the industry, Google is in a little bit of a quandary here. As Internet users develop into more sensitive to privacy, the gap between Chrome today and Apple’s Safari continues to be too wide. Chrome is a superb browser, and its users rightly want it to compete higher with the alternatives.
Google seems high quality with this – the awkward Incognito Mode stumble notwithstanding – but needs to seek out a compromise that does not destroy its ad model and these cookies.
In the meantime, after all, the larger unanswered query revolves around AI and what it is going to mean for browser search and promoting in the approaching years. All in all, we could also be in uncharted territory when these cookies finally disappear anyway.
