It will depend on how popular the Chromebooks and Chromeboxes become among the business and education communities, and to a lesser extent, the consumers. I have observed among friends and acquaintances that many pick computers for themselves that are the same as the ones they learned to use at work or school. So the more that adopt Chromebooks/boxes as a primary computer, the fewer that will need dedicated anti-virus software.
What does this mean for anti-virus programs?
So, if there is now going to be a way to avoid the risk of getting a virus on your computer, won't everyone want to do it? Will there still be a need for anti-virus.
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I need some convincing that the very clever virus artists out there won't find a way around the Chrome protections. If Chromebooks become very popular, like PCs, there could be some incentive to crack them.
I believe it is the opposite. As Chromebook shares rise, more interest in developing malicious software for them will also. Take Apple's recent MacDefender attack, for example......the more that adopt Chromebooks/boxes as a primary computer, the fewer that will need dedicated anti-virus software.
Online security is on everybody's minds these days, I'm sure Google considered that.
Do you remember the recent pwn2own competition?I need some convincing that the very clever virus artists out there won't find a way around the Chrome protections. If Chromebooks become very popular, like PCs, there could be some incentive to crack them.
Wikipedia said:Pwn2Own 2011 Contest
Day 1
During the first day of the competition Safari and Internet Explorer were defeated by researchers. Safari was version 5.0.3 installed on a fully-patched Mac OS X 10.6.6.[19] French security firm VUPEN was first to attack the browser, and five seconds after the browser visited its specially-crafted malicious web page, it had both launched the platform calculator application (a standard harmless payload to demonstrate that arbitrary code has been executed) and written a file to the hard disk (to demonstrate that the sandbox had been bypassed).
The second and last browser to fall for the day was a 32-bit Internet Explorer 8 installed on 64-bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1.[19] Security researcher Stephen Fewer of Harmony Security was successful in exploiting IE. Just as with Safari, this was demonstrated by running Windows' calculator program and writing a file to the hard disk.
Day 2
In day 2 the iPhone 4 and Blackberry Torch 9800 were both exploited. Security researchers Charlie Miller and Dion Blazakis were able to gain access to the iPhone's address book through a vulnerability in Mobile Safari by visiting their exploit ridden webpage. The iPhone was running iOS 4.2.1, however the flaw exists in the current 4.3 version of the iOS.
Vincenzo Iozzo, Willem Pinckaers, and Ralf Philipp Weinmann were successful in exploiting the Blackberry Torch 9800. The team took advantage of a vulnerability in the Blackberry's WebKit based web browser by visiting their previously prepared webpage. The phone was running BlackBerry OS 6.0.0.246.
Firefox, Android and Windows Phone 7 were scheduled to be tested during day 2, but the security researchers that had been chosen for these platforms did not attempt any exploits. Sam Thomas had been selected to test Firefox, but he withdrew stating that his exploit was not stable. The researchers that had been chosen to test Android and Windows Phone 7 did not show up.
Day 3
No teams showed up for day three. Chrome and Firefox were not hacked.
Well, if Chrome didn't get hacked, that's encouraging. The real test will be after Chromebook has been out there for 2-3 months.
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