Browser Security: Lessons from Google Chrome

The Web has become one of the primary ways people interact with their computers, connecting people with a diverse landscape of content, services, and applications. Users can find new and interesting content on the Web easily, but this presents a security challenge: malicious Web-site operators can attack users through their Web browsers. Browsers face the challenge of keeping their users safe while providing a rich platform for Web applications. Generally speaking, the danger posed to users comes from three factors, and browser vendors can help keep their users safe by addressing each of these factors: 1. severity of vulnerabilities, 2. window of vulnerability, and 3. frequency of exposure. To make Google Chrome even more secure, experts are investigating further improvements to the browser's security architecture, such as mitigating the damage that plug-in exploits can cause and more thoroughly isolating different Web sites using separate sandboxed processes. Ultimately, their goal is to raise the bar high enough to deter attackers from targeting the browser.