What you need to know
- Google detailed several updates for Chrome that aim to help users stay safe while browsing online.
- Google states it has rolled out alerts for suspicious websites and bright red, full-screen warnings for sites that are “known to be dangerous.”
- Other updates include Gemini’s AI-powered alerts for scams and notifications to help users avoid risky situations.
Google is bringing improved warning systems for potentially dangerous websites in Chrome.
In a blog post, Google announced that it’s rolling out an update for Chrome’s Safe Browsing when “Enhanced protection mode is enabled.” Chrome now has warnings for suspicious and dangerous websites. If the browser deems a website to be “suspicious,” Google says this typically means there’s a “risk of user harm.” It explains that suspicious websites “exhibit deceptive patterns” associated with sites looking to steal or capture your data.
However, if the browser is “confident” that a website is truly dangerous, then that means it discovered something of a “high risk” to the user. Google says these warnings will appear for sites that are “known to be malicious.” Users will tell the difference between these two warnings quite easily. Suspicious sites will produce a warning pop-up in your address bar.
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The alert will say “this site doesn’t seem right” with a boldly colored button to take you to safety (it returns you to Search or wherever you’ve come from). But if a website is truly dangerous, the entire screen goes red with “dangerous site” in the center.
These updated warnings will be present on Chrome for desktop and Android.
Dangerous websites
ClickFix is another issue Google said it’s worked on for Chrome. It explains that ClickFix is a “social engineering technique that tricks users into manually copying and executing malicious commands.” It hides under the guise of “fixing an issue,” which never existed in the first place. Google Chrome’s Enhanced Protection will now protect users from copying and executing suspicious commands.
In terms of the onslaught of on-device AI, Google Chrome has recently received a healthy dose of Gemini. The AI isn’t only useful for summarizing webpages. Gemini is capable of delivering scam warnings when users visit malicious websites. These alerts cover “scams, spam, and unwanted notifications.” While Google previously said that it uses data and machine learning to determine what is “malicious,” users can overrule it.
Gemini’s alerts will display what it believes to be dangerous. However, if it made the wrong decision, the user can mark it as safe.