Fergie's Tech Blog

Google's Chrome OS Cited as Likely Hacker Vehicle

Aaron Ricadela writes on BusinessWeek:

Google's computer operating system, due to be released next year, may rank among software most targeted by hackers in 2010, according to a Dec. 29 report from the computer security company McAfee.

The Web-based operating system, dubbed Chrome, relies on a technology known as HTML 5 that's designed to help Web applications behave like PC software. Developers use HTML 5 language to ensure that software delivers fast response times and stores information that users can access even when they're not connected to the Internet.

Yet because sites written with HTML 5 can directly access a user's PC online or off, they may provide a rich target for cyber attacks, McAfee said in its "2010 Threat Predictions."

The popularity of Google's software, which includes a collaboration program, business applications that compete with Microsoft's Office suite, and other products, makes the company's Web sites alluring to hackers who hope to infect computers with malware that can spread spam or pilfer information, says Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee. "When a technology is widely used and adopted, the bad guys will latch onto it before the good guys do," he says. "Developers need to think about how [HTML 5] is going to be abused."

posted by Fergie @ 12/28/2009 09:47:00 PM