Use Chrome? You must not ignore this urgent warning from Google

Billions of Google Chrome users are being urged to update their web browsers without delay. This latest alert, which comes directly from Google, was issued after a number of new threats were discovered that could leave PCs open to attack from hackers.

Although it’s pretty common for bugs to be found and patched throughout the year, what makes this latest alert more concerning is that two of the problems found by the cyber team at Google have been given the dreaded ‘zero day’ rating.

If you weren’t already aware, zero-day warnings are every gadget owners worst nightmare. That’s because these alerts mean it’s possible – and highly likely – the bug is already known to criminals and hackers, who are almost certainly using the glitches in attacks right now. That’s why Google has rushed to release this new patch so quickly.

The new release, Chrome version 95.0.4638.69, fixes a total of eight issues with two of them deemed high risk. Google has confirmed on its Chrome update page that it’s aware of exploits in the wild for issues codenamed CVE-2021-38000 and CVE-2021-38003.

These have now been fixed, but only if users update their Chrome browser.

Confirming the upgrade, Google said: “The Stable channel has been updated to 95.0.4638.69 for Windows, Mac and Linux which will roll out over the coming days/weeks. We would like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel.”

The firm won’t disclose more about the flaws until it’s certain that the majority of users have upgraded their browser, but it’s clearly serious so don’t delay in making sure your PC is up to date.

If you use Chrome then it’s worth checking that your Windows 10 PC, Mac or Chromebook is running the latest software. To make sure things are fully up to date, simply launch your browser, head to Chrome in your menu bar and tap “About Chrome.”

Here you’ll see which version of Chrome you are running and whether things need to be updated. If you’re not running the latest version you’ll be asked to upgrade and then restart your software.

This latest Chrome alert comes after similar issues were discovered back in October and September with zero-day flaws also fixed in those two releases.