Brave browser... how secure?

[kiddingguy]

I was just wondering on the Brave Browser... their latest version is: Version 1.8.90 Chromium: 81.0.4044.129 (Official Build) (64-bit)

And this chromium version is dated Sat Apr 25

There have been newer Chromium (sub)versions released after this .129 version (like even 81.0.4044.144 released today; Thu May 07).

 

And the latest Google Chrome is v. 81.0.4044.138 (I'm not sure if the Google version is on par with the Chromium though)

 

Basically my question is... if the Chromium-project has later (stable) released out, how secure is Brave on earlier versions? And why doesn't it sooner follow these newer Chromium-builds?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

6 hours ago, kiddingguy said:

Basically my question is... if the Chromium-project has later (stable) released out, how secure is Brave on earlier versions? And why doesn't it sooner follow these newer Chromium-builds?

Just from my point of view, you should be fine. Small incremental updates to Chromium would be mostly for things like fixing bugs, but not gaping security flaws.

 

Brave being behind on their Chromium version will be a result of them modifying the code that sits on top of the stable Chromium build. Just from looking at the site (I don't use Brave) their focus is on privacy and preventing things like tracking. Each time that Chromium releases a new build, the devs for Brave will need to check and make sure that those modifications don't break any of their tools that they have put in to their browser. That can be time-consuming, and difficult to keep up with if your source is being modified every day.

 

Like I said, that's just my point of view. I have nothing (other than observations of similar sorts of mods on a base-software), but I would say that it would be as safe to use as any other custom browser based off Chromium.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I was following the Brave GIT for a bit because using the offline installer packages was the only way I could install the browser on my work computer before it hit 1.0. (our firewalls use to block the brave install/update servers but don't now).

They're pretty good about security updates. They test thoroughly before pushing a build to the stable channel and will back-port important security patches if needed.

 

Plus the fact that most google garbage is removed and it comes with a built in HTTPS upgrader and popup blocker (of course I whitelist Neowin though on top of being a Tier 2 sub), I couldn't ask for anything more from the browser.

I turn the reward ###### off though which I appreciate they have a full off switch for 🙂 

[+Biscuits Brown MVC]

I've moved to Brave on all my systems here in the house and at this time have no plans to move to anything else. Runs as fast as Chrome or Edge ( without all the Google/Microsoft tracking) and it uses Chrome extensions (got to be careful with these to maintain privacy). 

[erpster3]

standalone or offline installers of Brave can be found here on github