Google Introduces Enhanced Real-Time URL Protection for Chrome Users
Mar 15, 2024
Browser Security / Phishing Attack
Google on Thursday announced an enhanced version of Safe Browsing to provide real-time, privacy-preserving URL protection and safeguard users from visiting potentially malicious sites. "The Standard protection mode for Chrome on desktop and iOS will check sites against Google's server-side list of known bad sites in real-time," Google's Jonathan Li and Jasika Bawa said . "If we suspect a site poses a risk to you or your device, you'll see a warning with more information. By checking sites in real time, we expect to block 25% more phishing attempts." Up until now, the Chrome browser used a locally-stored list of known unsafe sites that's updated every 30 to 60 minutes, and then leveraging a hash-based approach to compare every site visited against the database. Google first revealed its plans to switch to real-time server-side checks without sharing users' browsing history with the company in September 2023. The reason for the change, the...