As soon as dip a virtual toe into the online waters, you’re putting yourself at risk, whether from suspicious links, dodgy downloads, data collection, or anything else. The good news is that our web browsers have evolved to become more secure and sane.
If Google Chrome is your browser of choice, you have access to an enhanced Safe Browsing mode that you might not have suspected: It’s basically what it sounds like, an extra layer of protection that you can turn on if you want it to be possible most cautious.
Why isn’t it on by default? Well, when it’s on, you’ll be sharing more data with Google about where you go and what you do online — data that Google says is only stored temporarily before it’s anonymized, but you can’t be blamed for feeling like it already You have given Google enough data as it is.
How Enhanced Safe Browsing works
Enhanced Safe Browsing is for “users who require or want a higher level of security while browsing the web,” Google says. For example, it uses what Google knows about past security issues to proactively block new security threats that may not yet be cataloged.
Additional checks will be performed on extensions you install and downloads you initiate. You’ll get the option to send files marked as suspicious to Google for further verification if you’re not sure about them. This may mean waiting a little longer to install something, but this extra precaution reduces the risk of being caught by malware.
Enhanced Safe Browsing mode works in addition to Chrome’s already built-in security measures. For example, by default the browser checks the sites you visit against a list of URLs that are known to be dangerous, a list that is updated every 30 minutes. Turn on the extra security protections and Chrome uses machine learning models to recognize bad sites even if they’re not on the final list.
Google says the improved Safe Browsing is also better able to thwart hacking attempts against your Google Account by monitoring a wider range of signals. By default, it will also check if your email addresses and passwords are included in any data breaches leaked online – you’ll be alerted if this happens.
