Browser slammed for HUGE data breach in new investigation

GOOGLE Chrome has been named “Worst to Detect and Block” a shockingly common hacking attack.

The browser ranks at the end of the list in a which? investigation – and branded a “gift to scammers”.

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Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers in the world with an estimated 3.2 billion users worldwide.

But when it comes to detecting and stopping “phishing” attacks, experts say Chrome may not be up to speed.

Competitors like Microsoft Edge, Apple’s Safari, and Mozilla Firefox all did better at this task than Chrome, according to the which? Detection.

Phishing attacks are a simple hack that can have devastating consequences.

That is when crooks trick you into revealing confidential information.

This may mean impersonating an official website or bank via email, text message or over the phone.

And it’s often an attempt to obtain information that will give scammers access to your online accounts.

This could leave you with huge bills, an empty bank account, or threats of blackmail and extortion.

The which? The test involved browsing web addresses of 800 newly discovered phishing sites in each web browser.

It also examined whether the best browsers were “over-aggressive” when it came to blocking websites, leading to false positives.

According to reports, Google Chrome prevented access to only 28% of phishing websites on Windows and only 25% on Mac.

This was compared to Mozilla’s Firefox, which blocked 85% and 78% of phishing sites on Windows and Mac, respectively, the research claims.

Microsoft’s Edge browser blocked 82% of attacks, while Apple’s Safari blocked 77%. Which? says.

And Opera blocked just 56% of phishing sites, according to the report — still more than Google Chrome.

“It’s incredibly alarming to see a giant company like Google allowing its users’ security to be exposed in this way.” Which? Computer editor Lisa Barber said.

“A gift to scammers who constantly try to use phishing attacks as a launch pad for scams that can wreak havoc on victims.”

Lisa recommends “being vigilant when you click on a link” and keeping your browser up to date to ward off hacking attempts.

Phishing sites are difficult to combat because they often appear and then disappear very quickly.

Which? says Google questioned the results after receiving its results.

A Google spokesman told The Sun: “The methodology and results of this study warrant close scrutiny.

“For more than 10 years, Google has helped set the anti-phishing standard for other browsers – and made the underlying technology available for free.

“Google and Mozilla often work together to improve web security, and Firefox relies primarily on Google’s Safe Browsing API to block phishing — but researchers said Firefox offers significantly more phishing protection than Chrome.

“It is highly unlikely that browsers using the same phishing detection technology would differ significantly in the level of protection they offer, so we remain skeptical of the findings of this report.”

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