Republished on September 18 with a new infostealer warning for Chrome and Edge users, as passwords, cookies and payment data are stolen from PCs.
Here we go again. Microsoft is warning Windows users that Google Chrome, the world’s most popular browser, is specifically not recommended. If you want to “browse securely,” the Windows-maker says, you need to use Edge instead.
As spotted by Windows Latest, this latest “gotcha moment” comes by way of “a new Edge ad” in which “Microsoft has created a full-fledged table that compares the two browsers when you try to install Chrome.” Unsurprisingly, Edge is the clear winner.
Microsoft controls the Windows OS, so the fact Edge is “Microsoft recommended, which means it’s more secure and designed to run on Windows 11,” is intended to resonate. “Edge gets a blue tick on every line, while Chrome gets an X on every one.”
This is highlighted and can’t be missed by users. “So even though the Google Chrome download links still show up, the first thing you see is Microsoft’s pitch. There’s a ‘Discover more features’ button to pull you deeper into Edge’s benefits.”
As I’ve reported before, the Chrome-bashing isn’t really working for Microsoft. The latest market stats show Chrome growing its already dominant position. It now has more than 70% of the PC browser market compared to Edge’s 12%.
If users persist with the Chrome install, “the cat and mouse game doesn’t stop just yet. If you again ignore Microsoft’s recommendation, move ahead with the download, then a Microsoft Edge banner from the top of Google’s website will appear. This pushes down Chrome’s download, and is the company’s final attempt to convince you.”
Perhaps the only real threat to Chrome’s dominance is the new class of AI browsers that have started to hit the market. And here there’s a different warning this week, this time courtesy of the security team at LayerX.
The team warns that new AI browsers “exhibit alarmingly low success rates in blocking even poorly crafted and obviously malicious phishing websites.”
LayerX says “a new generation of AI browsers, such as Comet (by Perplexity), Dia (by the makers of Arc browser), Genspark, Edge Copilot, as well as upcoming browsers by Opera (Neon) and a rumored AI browser by OpenAI, is integrating AI directly into the day-to-day browsing experience.” The risk is that “this creates a new threat surface which bad actors can exploit in order to steal user credentials and data.”
In this report, Edge and Chrome materially outperform the new browsers with broadly similar security protection, albeit Edge marginally outperformed Chrome. That said, the data shows both mainstream browsers are far from perfect.
LayerX says “Edge had the best overall built-in phishing protection, with a 54% accuracy rate. Edge was the only browser that seems not to be using Google’s phishing protections. While they were both overall similar in their assessment of about 80% of websites, we found that for about 14% of sites, Edge had an advantage, while Chrome was more accurate in identifying phishing incidents for about 6% of websites.”
So, the data suggests Microsoft’s “browse securely” tag and claim its browser is the same as Chrome “with the added trust of Microsoft,” is more marketing than security advice. The real risks come from the AI bandwagon, and there you do need to take care.
Meanwhile, a perfect reminder that both Chrome and Edge are essentially cut from the same cloth has just turned up. A new infostealer attack dubbed Raven Stealer has been found targeting “Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Edge, extracting passwords, cookies, payment data, and autofill entries.”
The report from Point Wild says “this malware steals credentials from various applications, harvests browser data such as cookies, autofill entries, and browsing history, and performs real-time data exfiltration via Telegram bot integration.”
Raven Stealer will come at you by way of “underground forums or bundled with cracked software, making it a persistent threat to both personal and enterprise environments. Due to its ability to bypass basic antivirus detection and transmit stolen data instantly, Raven Stealer poses significant security risks.”
Staying safe means ensuring your OS and your browser are updated. And on that note, Google’s new warning that Chrome is again under attack from an actively exploited vulnerability is critical. All users need to download and restart right away.
Staying safe, Point Wild says, is down to “behavioural-based threat detection, vigilant monitoring of Telegram traffic, user education on phishing tactics, and consistent software patching to close vulnerabilities.”
That both Chrome and Edge are being targeted by this infostealer is a timely reminder that neither browser provides a 100% secure solution. You need to ensure you don’t introduce risk through delayed updates, unsafe extensions and browsing behaviors.
