Security Alert: WebGL, Firefox and Chrome

I usually DO NOT send out dire technical warnings about computer stuff I find out on the Internet.

However, when a warning is credible, I see it as critical to inform as many of you as possible about these things.

I subscribe to a number of cybersecurity mailing lists, including the US Department of Homeland Security's US-CERT technical lists as well as follow many credible sites. Warnings that come from panicked users in emails are often not credible.

This warning applies to users who run the Firefox 4.x, Google Chrome and Apple Safari web browsers. Users of Internet Exploder, er, Explorer, are not affected by this one as far as I know (probably because DirectX is the Microsoft-based technology for doing this).

The warning concerns a new service that these browsers support called "WebGL." It's an adaptation of the OpenGL graphics language used in 3D applications like video games to web applications. WebGL is the kind of thing one might use to implement, say, a game like World of Warcraft in a web browser.

Neat idea . . . but there is a big security hole in the latest version that could cause your system to lock up or worse.

So, what to do?

If you are using Firefox 4, all you need to do is click here and follow the directions.

If you use Safari (and apparently, Chrome), this option is disabled by default. Just leave it alone . . .

And, update your browsers when updates become available.