Vulnerability Exposed – Urgent Update of Chrome Browser Required

A security vulnerability has been identified in the Google Chrome application. To put it simply, hackers can use a little hole Chrome’s software left open to gain access to your computer.  Our security engineers have deemed the risk serious enough to justify asking everyone who has Chrome installed on their computer to take action, ideally no later than close of business Monday. We were able to push out a change that will force Chrome to update to the latest version by 5:00 PM EST today (on computers where Chrome Auto-Update wasn’t already enabled), but we opted not to force Chrome closed and risk you losing work you might have open. If Chrome is not closed completely, the update does not apply.

Option A: With Chrome open, click on the menu in the upper right that looks like three vertical dots. At the bottom of the menu that appears, click on Help, then About Google Chrome. If it says “Google Chrome is up to date,” you’re all set, and no further action is needed.

If you are prompted in that window to Update or Relaunch, go ahead and click that button. (You will need to be connected to the internet.)  Chrome should close and reopen itself. As a double-check, you can then go to Help, then About again and it should give you the Up to date message.

Option B: After 5:00 today (when we can be sure your computer has gotten the update from Google), close all Chrome browser windows you have open, then reopen Chrome. That should do it. You can go to Help, About Google Chrome to ensure it says “Up to date.”

Neither option requires that you reboot your computer. If you do these steps and you get an error or Chrome won’t update, and you’ve confirmed your internet connection is working, please send a message to support@safetynet-inc.com or submit via the Web site form with a timeline of Next Business Day so our technicians can take a look. We will be reporting next week to identify computers that have not yet been updated and making contact if needed.

Thank you for doing your part to ensure the security of your organization’s data!