Good News: Chrome Now Sandboxes Flash for More Secure Browsing [Security]

Adobe Flash Player is now sandboxed inside the latest dev channel release of Google Chrome, bringing a tremendous security benefit to Chrome users. Here’s why:

You’ll hear lots Flash bashing on the web, and while we’re not as down on Flash as some (it has its flaws, however it’s also been instrumental in shaping among the things we adore in regards to the web), perhaps Flash’s biggest flaw lies in security-or lack thereof. It’s a standard in-road for hackers aiming to execute malicious code in browsers. In a broad nutshell, sandboxing Flash implies that this malicious code can have limited access in your system, and should be considerably less in a position to achieve its goal.

This initial Flash Player sandbox is a crucial milestone in making Chrome even safer. Especially, users of Windows XP will see an enormous security benefit, as Chrome is currently the best browser on the XP platform that runs Flash Player in a sandbox. This first iteration of Chrome’s Flash Player sandbox for all Windows platforms uses a modified version of Chrome’s existing sandbox technology that protects certain sensitive resources from being accessed by malicious code, while allowing applications to take advantage of less sensitive ones. This implementation is a major first step in further reducing the prospective attack surface of the browser and protecting users against common malware.

Google notes that this initial sandboxing is barely a start, and that they’re still working to improve its effectiveness. Currently Flash sandboxing is barely available on the dev channel for Windows, but they’re planning to support all platforms eventually.

Source

This post is tagged: adobe flash player, modified version, security benefit, sensitive resources, windows platforms