EXPERTS thwarted a record number of serious security flaws exploited by hackers over the past year.
According to Google, bug hunters have reported a total of 58 in 2021, including the powerful cyberweapon used to spy on Boris Johnson’s computer network.
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The shocking figure is the highest since the tech company launched a hacker-wiping out program in 2014.
This more than doubles the previous record from 2015.
Google warned that many of the so-called “zero-day exploits” found in the wild use similar techniques that have been seen before.
The unwanted list includes five against iPhones iOS, seven affecting Android and 14 related to Chrome systems.
“With two exceptions of 58, everything we saw was pretty much ‘meh’ or standard,” Google Project Zero’s Maddie Stone called.
“As an industry, we don’t make zero day difficult.
“Attackers succeed by using vulnerabilities similar to those we’ve seen before and in components previously discussed as attack surfaces.
“The goal is to force attackers to start over every time we discover one of their exploits.”
The good news is that Google believes the increase is due to better detection and disclosure by experts, as opposed to more hacks.
But the revelation shows the importance of keeping devices up to date.
Make sure your phone, laptop, and apps are running the latest version if you haven’t already.
Otherwise, hackers can still exploit discovered and fixed bugs.
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https://www.thesun.ie/tech/8680340/google-zero-day-exploit-2021-record-security-hack/ Google warns of RECORD hacks last year