In today’s virtual world, we all face online threats on a daily basis. But the difference between being a victim of those threats and being a victim of them can be a matter of minutes. To address this issue, Google has created new security and privacy protections for Chrome users on desktop and iOS. These new features are designed to be more effective in detecting and blocking phishing attacks. In fact, Google claims that the new updates will lead to a 25% increase in the number of phishing attacks detected and blocked. the browser.
According to statistics released on March 14 through Google’s Chrome and Safe Browsing product managers, the average malicious site used by cybercriminals to borrow your non-public knowledge and access your finances has only been around for less than 10 minutes. This is a huge window of opportunity for criminals and a corrupted window for users hoping that technologies like Google’s Safe Browsing feature in the Chrome internet browser will save them. But the tide is turning, and Google has announced a new update to Safe Browsing coverage that hopes to change that window. of opportunities in the smallest crevices.
To put this in context, Google claims that the popular coverage mode of its Safe Browsing feature used a list of addresses of sites and files that are known to pose a potential danger. This list was updated every 30 to 60 minutes, which means that 3 malicious sites may have given the impression and belied the impression before Google and the user were aware of them. “Safe browsing for any Chrome on desktop or iOS,” Google announced. Plus, we’re introducing new password coverages in Chrome for iOS to help you browse the web securely.
This means that billions of devices running the Chrome browser that have noticed Safe Browsing, comparing more than 10 billion addresses and files every day (yes, you read that right) and demonstrating more than 3 million alerts to users will now be a reality. time. ” If we suspect that a site poses a threat to you or your device,” Google says, “you’ll see a warning with more information. By verifying sites in real-time, we expect to block another 25% of phishing attempts.
The new feature, which Google will offer Android users later this month, protects your privacy through “encryption and other privacy-enhancing techniques,” Google says, “to ensure that no one, not even Google, knows what page you’re on online. “Re on. I’m visiting.
Until now, Google verified the sites you visited as opposed to a locally stored database of malicious sites for privacy and functionality reasons. This search engine optimization procedure was updated hourly and hourly.
“To move to real-time protection,” Google says, “checks will now have to be performed on a list maintained on the Safe Browsing server. “This server-side list will include malicious sites immediately after they are discovered. Google explains how it works here: when you scale at a site, Chrome first checks its cache to see if the site’s address is already known to be secure. If the prestige is unknown, a real-time check is performed first. mask the URL and then convert it to full 32-step hashes. These are then truncated into 4-step hash prefixes, which are encrypted through Chrome and sent to a privacy server where all potential user IDs are removed before being transmitted to the Safe Browsing server over a secure connection.
“The Safe Browsing server decrypts the hash prefixes and compares them to the server-side database,” Google explains, “returning the full hashes of any harmful URLs that fit any of the hash prefixes sent through Chrome. “A warning is displayed to the user. How personal is all this?Google claims to have partnered with cloud platform Fastly to provide an Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) privacy server that runs between Chrome and Safe Browsing. “With OHTTP, Safe Browsing doesn’t see your IP address and its Safe Browsing checks are combined with those sent through other Chrome users,” Google says, “this means that Safe Browsing can’t correlate the URL checks you send while you’re browsing the web. “
Google maintains privacy in a number of ways
For a full technical overview, check out Google’s post, but rest assured, “neither party has to know your identity or hash prefixes. “
The latest edition of Chrome will be updated to use the new feature. If this point of coverage is rarely enough for you, turn on Enhanced Protection Mode, which leverages AI models to block attacks and includes “deep log scans” for greater coverage. Enhanced coverage also provides a defense against malicious Chrome extensions.
The icing on the security cake for users of the iOS Chrome app is that Google has also announced an update to the password verification feature. This helps flag the passwords you use if they are known to have been compromised and appeared in the dark. internet databases that cybercriminals and hackers have been using for some time now. However, Google has added two more features to this feature that is already a must-have for Chrome iOS fans: an alert for weak passwords and another for reused passwords.