We get asked this question a lot - why don't you offer Identity Guard Device Secure for my Chromebook? It's a good question, and one that has both a long and short answer. We'll take you through both below.

Do I need antivirus software for my Chromebook?

The short answer: no, you don't need to download and install antivirus software on your Chromebook. The Chrome operating system was designed from the bottom up with security in mind, and the engineers of Chrome OS have put protections in place that stop viruses in their tracks. The short explanation to the short answer is that there are no viruses that can effect a computer running the Chrome operating system.

Well, why not? More information, please.

There are several reasons why Chromebooks don't require antivirus software, the first being process isolation. When you have Google Chrome open and have 5 tabs, those are 5 separate processes. Each tab is isolated and is not able to share information (or interfere) with the other tabs. 

This is true for every process that takes place on your Chromebook. Think of each process existing in a box. Your email is in one box, and your web browser is in another. Your email can do everything it needs to inside its box. And if something malicious is sent to your email, it can't escape the email box, which it would need to do in order to cause any harm. Not a bad idea, right?

In addition to process isolation, Chromebooks push automatic updates to your computer that often contain small security fixes, and hosts users files in the cloud to prevent against ransomware attacks. 

So I'm out of the woods?

Mostly! But not all the way. Cyber criminals will go a long way to get your data, and there are 

-phishing attempts

-browser extensions (adware)