Google promises 'the end of viruses'

Google's Engineering Director has promised that its forthcoming Chrome OS will see 'the end of malware'.

Google is promising what the latest issue of New Scientist magazine refers to as "a carefree antivirus nirvana" with its forthcoming Google Chrome OS.

Linus Upson, Google's Engineering Director, has promised the company is: "Completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work."

Chrome browser patched

Ironically, Google is also in the news this week due to security flaws in its Chrome browser.

Two of the most recent Google Chrome web browser security flaws (one relating to malicious code exploitation in the Chrome tab sandbox and one relating to memory corruption in the browser tab processes) have now been fixed.

You can see the full run-down of all the latest changes over on Google's Chrome site.

So is the cloud computing future really going to be more secure than our current system of downloading regular security patches to constantly fix the software that's sitting on our hard drive?

"Downloading updates is always going to be a step or two behind the cloud approach because it takes a while to get a fix out to a PC to install it," argues Paul Jackson of Forrester Research.

And while Jackson agrees that "the cloud approach allows patches to be applied much faster" he notes that any web-based OS is still going to be at risk from malware targeting the browser or Linux.

Robert Caunt, an analyst from CCS Insight in London, notes that Google has a good record on security to date: "Its Gmail spam filter and search engine's phishing-detection is good. They know what needs doing."

Major computing brands such as Nvidia, Dell, Asus, Acer and others have already confirmed that they will be fully supporting Google's Chrome OS. Stay tuned for further Chrome OS news updates as and when we get them.