Google is expanding its Enhanced Safe Browsing feature in Chrome 91to protect users when they install new extensions from the Chrome Web Store. In fact, the feature will warn users when installing untrusted extensions.
Chrome 91 will display a new window warning users to proceed with caution if the Enhanced Safe Browsing feature “does not trust” an extension.
See also: Chrome 91 is 23% faster thanks to JavaScript improvements
Google introduced the Enhanced Safe Browsing feature last year as an opt-in protection against phishing and malware sites, to detect these malicious sites before users visit them. The feature used Chrome to share more security data with the service, to check for misleading URLs in real time and determine if a site is phishing.
Google is now using Enhanced Safe Browsing to more closely scrutinize developers who publish extensions to the Chrome Web Store. This could create hurdles for extension developers who are new to the Chrome Web Store, as it will take a few months of complying with Google's policies to be considered trustworthy.
“ Extensions created by a developer who follows the Chrome Web Store Developer Program Policies will be considered trusted by Enhanced Safe Browsing. New developers will need a few months to be considered trusted ,” Badr Salmi and Varun Khaneja said in a blogpost .
The new framework follows Google's multi-year effort to "clean" the Chrome Web Store of scammy and phishing extensions
See also: Millions of users have installed malicious Chrome and Edge extensions
Chrome users can enable Enhanced Safe Browsing by going to Settings and clicking Privacy and Security settings > Security> and “Enhanced protection” mode, under Safe Browsing.
Users should note that this allows the service to share data temporarily associated with a Google account if the user is signed in to Chrome.
However, Google claims that Chrome users who enable Enhanced Safe Browsing fall victim to phishing attacks 35% less than other users.
Google is also improving protections when downloading potentially dangerous files from the internet.
Users will receive a warning when a suspicious file is detected, and will be suggested to send it for scanningfor further analysis. An initial check is performed through the standard Google Safe Browsing services.
See also: Google Chrome: How to manage your extensions?
If you choose to send the file, Chrome will upload it to Google Safe Browsing, which will scan it with the appropriate tools, in real time.
If the file is found to be unsafe, Chrome will display a warning. Of course, you can ignore the warning and open the file without scanning. Downloaded files are deleted by Safe Browsing shortly after scanning.
Source: ZDNet
