Previously, Chrome would download a list of well-known sites that harbored malware, unwanted software, and phishing scams once or twice an hour. Now, Chrome will transfer to a formula that will send the URLs it stops at to its servers and check them for comparison. A temporarily updated list. To the credit, it doesn’t take up to an hour to get an up-to-date list because, as Google points out, an average malicious site doesn’t exist for more than 10 minutes.
The company claims that this new server-side formula can lead to up to 25% more phishing attacks than using local lists. These local rosters have also grown in size, putting more pressure on low-end machines and low-bandwidth connections.
Google is lately rolling out this new formula for desktop and iOS users, and Android later this month.
Now, if this all sounds a little familiar, it’s probably because you’re already familiar with the improved Safe Browsing mode. This mode also compares the URL you’re scaling to an online list in real-time, but it also uses AI. to block attacks that aren’t on any list, perform deeper log scans and include coverage against malicious Chrome extensions. However, the enhanced mode has been optional and will continue to be so (although Google started incentivizing other people to turn it on). last year). Standard coverage mode doesn’t use those AI features.
Google is doing its best to make this formula work in real-time without sharing its browsing knowledge with the company. Here’s how Google describes this process:
Perhaps the most attractive component here is the privacy server. Google has partnered with CDN and edge computing specialist Fastly to use Fastly’s Oblivious HTTP privacy server. This server sits between Chrome and Safe Browsing and removes any credentials from the browser request.
I temporarily built this formula as a privacy service that can be installed between users and an internet app and anonymize their meta-knowledge while I can exchange knowledge with an internet app, for example. These servers, according to Google, work independently through Fastly (a cynic might take a look at this total scheme and say that even Google doesn’t accept as true not to spy on your browsing knowledge. . . ).
Because of all this, Google’s Safe Browsing service deserves to never see your IP address. Meanwhile, Fastly may not see those URLs either, as they are encrypted through the browser, a public-private key that Fastly does not have access to.