Recently we’ve seen a variety of different security bugs and malware targeting victims, including several that are active on Google Chrome’s ecosystem. If you are a Microsoft Edge user, you may think you are safe but, unfortunately, we have some bad news for you. There is a dangerous flaw in the Edge browser that is vulnerable to attack right now. Let’s go through all you need to know.
Earlier this week Chrome rushed out a security update to patch a zero-day bug that was already exploiting victims in the wild. Unfortunately, it looks like the bug was actually a part of the Chromium source code project rather than just in Chrome itself. This means that all browsers that use the Chromium codebase could also be vulnerable and yes, that means Microsoft Edge users are currently at risk.
The bug enables scammers to execute arbitrary code on the victim’s device, which opens up all sorts of terrible possibilities including taking full control of the device. For this reason, added to the fact that attacks are already happening in the wild, Microsoft has pushed out a security update quickly and we recommend you update your version of Microsoft Edge immediately.
To update Microsoft Edge, you need to click on the menu icon in the top-right corner of the browser. It looks like three horizontal dots and should be just to the right of your account avatar icon. From there you want to go to Help and Feedback and then About Microsoft Edge. Opening this should activate the download already meaning all you have to do is restart Microsoft Edge to install it. If it hasn’t simply hit download before you restart the browser.
From that same page, you can also select to Download and install updates automatically, which Microsoft recommends you do. This would keep you safer but if you’ve ever been frustrated by a Microsoft Windows update, we’d understand if you didn’t want to activate this setting. In light of recent news though, we would recommend activating this too.
For more news on Microsoft’s flagship web browser stick with our Microsoft Edge News hub.
