Google Enhances Chrome Safe Browsing Privacy

Google introduced an innovation for the Chrome browser aimed at increasing the confidentiality of users in real-time mode. The added protection function in the “Safe Browsing” mode allows users to hide the URL of the visited sites from prying eyes. This option is now activated by default in standard “safe viewing”.

For many years, the “safe viewing” function automatically added potentially unsafe URLs to the list stored on the user’s device. However, updating the local database only occurred once every 30-60 minutes, leaving short-term threat sites undetected. The Enhanced Protection mode offered a solution by utilizing the server database of “safe viewing” to identify dangerous URLs faster, but users had to provide additional security data.

The new version of “safe viewing” now offers an API that conceals the URLs visited by the user from Google. Instead, if unknown sites are detected, the browser sends their encrypted versions to an independent Fastly Privacy server. This server removes user identifiers from the URL before transmitting them to the “safe viewing” database via a secure TLS connection, ensuring the confidentiality of user data throughout the process.

Google claims that this update will allow the “safe viewing” function to block 25% more phishing attempts. Both the standard and enhanced modes now support real-time verification, but the enhanced protection mode offers additional features such as artificial intelligence for blocking attacks, deep file scanning, and protection against hazardous Chrome extensions.

The new real-time function is already available in the Chrome version for desktop computers and iOS, with Android support expected within a month. This advancement in browser security underscores Google’s commitment to safeguarding users’ privacy and security while browsing the internet.