Do you use the Google Chrome browser? Silly question, really, considering it’s the world’s most popular browsing platform with more than three billion users. Here’s another question, then: when was the last time you relaunched Chrome? If the answer is I don’t know, then you could be leaving yourself, your system and your data open to attack. Not only do you need to act now, but you should act regularly if you want to be protected against the ongoing Chrome hacker threat. Here’s what you need to know.
Google Chrome Security — What You Need To Know
I hope you are sitting down as I’m about to take you on a whistle-stop recent news headlines tour to explain precisely why you need to take the Chrome browser attack threat seriously. Let’s start on March 4, when Google confirmed no less than nine newly discovered browser security vulnerabilities, followed by another five just six days later. Fast forward to March 20, and a new critical Chrome vulnerability dropped, with more on April 16, April 22, April 29 and May 6.
It was on May 14, however, that Google confirmed the most critical in this long list of Chrome security vulnerabilities, CVE-2025-4664. Why so critical? Because, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, it was already being exploited by attackers in the wild. All security vulnerabilities are serious, but some are to be taken more seriously than others. If a Chrome zero-day emerges, where attackers are already out there exploiting that vulnerability, then action needs to be taken fast, as the hackers won’t be wasting time waiting. With Chrome attackers looking to bypass 2FA protections, and compromise passwords, proactive defensive measures are a must. Which is where relaunching the Chrome browser comes into play.
Why Relaunching Your Google Chrome Browser Is The Key To Hack Attack Protection
The one commonality between the aforementioned Chrome security vulnerabilities is that they were all disclosed by Google, along with the confirmation that an update to patch them was also being rolled out to users. While the security updating process is automatic for the Chrome browser, that doesn’t mean you are protected as soon as the Google announcement drops. Indeed, those announcements themselves all state that patches will “roll out over the coming days and weeks.” Which is nice, but less than comforting, especially in those cases where you know attackers already have the exploit code and attacks are underway.
Relaunch your Google Chrome Browser to activate update protections.
Luckily, you don’t actually have to wait for the security update to find you, you can go and find it. Or, more accurately, you can kickstart the process and let your Chrome browser go get it for you. This is as simple as choosing the About Google Chrome option from the Chrome Help menu. Doing that will automatically start the process, check for any outstanding updates, download them and install them. What it won’t do, however, is activate the security patch unless you relaunch your browser. Don’t worry, this shouldn’t impact all those open tabs you have, as Chrome saves these and reopens them upon restarting.
If you genuinely care about your Chrome security, and the sheer number of newly discovered vulnerabilities and ongoing attacks against the most popular web browsing platform suggest you must, then regularly checking for security updates and relaunching your browser is essential. You know what to do: make that check and relaunch your Google Chrome browser now.
