
Google Chrome issues urgent security update to 3,500,000,000 users
Some 3.5 billion users will be offered an update, which will be rolled out in the coming days and weeks.
It comes just weeks after Google issued another update for eight identified flaws, and an emergency patch for a high-severity vulnerability.
The exact details of the vulnerability and what has been done to fix it have not been specified by Google.
But the tech giant said: 'Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix.
'We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third-party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven't yet fixed.'
The issues could have been exploited by remote hackers in attacks on users.
To update to the latest version of Google and prevent the attacks, go to the Help|About option on the settings menu and follow prompts.
Once the update is complete, users must make sure to relaunch their browser to activate the latest version. More Trending
The Chrome Stable channel has been updated to 139.0.7258.127/.128 for Windows, Mac and 139.0.7258.127 for Linux.
Last month the UK's competition regulator gave an update on their investigation into whether Google has too much power, saying it is a 'key gateway to the internet' and may need to loosen its control.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said today that it is minded to give the tech firm 'strategic market status', after starting to look into this in January
This would require Google to follow certain rules around competition with other search engines and ad providers.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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But it's a scenario that has been seriously discussed in tech industry and policy circles in recent months, as tensions with Washington have escalated, and concerns about the EU's reliance on American technology have come to the the root of these concerns is the fact just three US giants - Google, Microsoft and Amazon - provide 70% of Europe's cloud-computing infrastructure, the scaffolding on which many online services some question whether an unpredictable US leader would weaponize the situation if relations seriously deteriorated - for example, by ordering those companies to turn off their services in Europe."Critical data would become inaccessible, websites would go dark, and essential state services like hospital IT systems would be thrown into chaos," says Robin Berjon, a digital governance specialist who advises EU believes that concerns over a so called US "kill switch" should be taken seriously. "It's hard to say how much trouble we would be in." 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Since then digital sovereignty has shot up the agenda in Brussels, while some public bodies are already seeking alternatives to US is it realistic to think they could wean themselves off US technology?Digital sovereignty is loosely defined as the ability of a governing body to control the data and technology systems within its problem faced by those pursuing it is the lack of comparable does have its own providers, such as France's OVHCloud, or Germany's Germany's T-Systems or Delos, in cloud they account for a fraction of the market, and don't have the same scale or range of capabilities, says Dario Maisto, a senior analyst covering digital sovereignty at global business consultancy open-source alternatives are available for common software packages like Office and Windows, but while proponents say they are more transparent and accessible, none is as comprehensive or well known. 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Benjamin Revcolevschi, boss of OVHCloud, tells the BBC that firms like his are ready to answer the sovereignty needs of public and private organisations in Europe."Only European cloud providers, whose headquarters are in the EU and with European governance, are able to offer immunity to non-European laws, to protect sensitive and personal data," he Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they already offer solutions that address concerns about digital sovereignty, solutions which store data on severs in the clients' country or region, not in the tells the BBC that it also partners with trusted local EU suppliers like T-Systems, granting them control over the encryption of client data, and giving customers "a technical veto over their data". The German Army is one of its Microsoft president Brad Smith has promised the firm would take legal action in the "exceedingly unlikely" event the US government ordered it to suspend services, and that it would include a clause in European contracts to that effect."We will continue to look for new ways to ensure the European Commission and our European customers have the options and assurances they need to operate with confidence," a Microsoft spokesman told the BBC. 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