Google Chrome is the most unsafe and vulnerable browser: claims report

Google Chrome is by far the world’s most popular web browser used by millions around the world but in what may be a cause of concern for millions of its users it has been ranked as the most vulnerable browser by Atlas VPN, a part of Nord security.

A total of 3,159 cumulative vulnerabilities have been discovered in the popular web browser, out of which 303 have been reported this year. The Atlas VPN team has not disclosed the severity but has just published the number of vulnerabilities. The figures are from the VulDB vulnerability database. The report summarises vulnerabilities reported in the database between January 1, 2022, to October 5, 2022.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser comes second with 117 vulnerabilities, and Microsoft Edge comes third with 103 vulnerabilities, which is 61% higher than the previous year. Since its release, it has had 806 vulnerabilities in total, the report states.

Apple’s Safari is the second-most widely used browser worldwide after Google Chrome and is also the safest browser with just 26 vulnerabilities reported for 2022 and 1,139 vulnerabilities overall since its debut. The report advises users to be particularly careful while choosing plug-ins as they can be malicious and has asked users to choose only reliable providers.

Recently Indian cyber agency the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) issued a high-severity advisory regarding vulnerabilities in Chrome through which hackers can gain access and execute malicious operations in the system.

Google has one of the most transparent vulnerabilities reporting processes out of all the companies, and according to experts, the same will be fixed via updates. Current users can safeguard themselves by updating their browsers to the latest version.