Microsoft Defender ATP Shows New Chrome Build As Malware

Anyone who recently installed the latest build of the Chrome browser should have been confronted with a warning from Microsoft Defender ATP. The security program falsely recognized the browser as malware. There is no official statement yet.

Google released the stable Chrome version 88.0.4324.146 for Windows, macOS and Linux on Tuesday. The update closes several security holes and should therefore be installed. Companies that rely on the Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) security platform have been warned that the new Chrome build could contain a backdoor called “PHP / Funvalget.A”.

Earlier: Microsoft Releases Antivirus For Android: Defender ATP (Advanced Threat Protection)

The two files “sl.pak” and “sk.pak” in the “Locales” folder of the Chrome installation should be responsible for the warnings. These are the terms of use in Slovak and Slovenian. Older installation packages are also said to have been classified as harmful.

No official confirmation so far

Since the files come from Google’s official Chrome download, it stands to reason that the warnings are false positives. According to a VirusTotal user, Microsoft has already updated the malware definitions so that the new Chrome version is no longer classified as harmful. So far, the Redmond-based company has not yet commented on the problem.

Microsoft Defender ATP is probably the only tool that has classified the new Chrome release as malware. Even the normal version of Defender has not classified the program as harmful. It is still unclear why only the ATP version of the Defender believes that the Chrome browser has a back door.

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