Update your Chrome browser right now

Google Chrome users are being urged to update the internet browser as soon as possible, after the search giant announced that a ‘zero day’ vulnerability was being exploited by hackers.

“Past 0-days targeted Chrome by using Flash as the first exploit in the chain,” said Chrome security engineer, Justin Schuh, on Twitter.

“Because Flash is a plugin component, we could update it separately, and once updated Chrome would silently switch to the fixed Flash without a browser restart or any user intervention.”

The newest exploit is different, and can target the Chrome code directly. “This means that the user has to have restarted the browser after the update was downloaded” for the fix to be implemented, said Schuh. “For most users the update download is automatic, but restart is a usually a manual action.”

How can I update Chrome?

Chrome updates to the latest version in the background, without the user’s knowledge, but changes are only applied when the browser is restarted, so you might want to double check that your computer is running the latest version.

To do this, click on the three vertical dots at the top right-hand corner of the browser, then select ‘Help’ from the drop-down menu.

Then click on ‘About Google Chrome’, which will open a new ‘Settings’ tab in the browser.

If your browser is up to date, you’ll see a message saying “Google Chrome is up to date”. If you need to install updates, or restart the browser, Chrome will give you the option to do so.

The current version of the browser is Version 72.0.3626.121. This version or later should see you safe from the vulnerability.

Do I need to update anything else?

Google also said they had discovered a similar vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, which was being used in tandem with the Chrome exploit.

“We strongly believe this vulnerability may only be exploitable on Windows 7,” they said in a blog post.

“To date, we have only observed active exploitation against Windows 7 32-bit systems.

“Users should consider upgrading to Windows 10 if they are still running an older version, and to apply Windows patches from Microsoft when they become available,” said Google.