Google Chrome gets enhanced security with real-time safe browsing and password checkup updates

Google has announced significant updates to its Chrome web browser aimed at bolstering cybersecurity for its users. In response to the ever-evolving nature of cyber threats, Chrome will now feature real-time Safe Browsing protections and enhanced password security measures, particularly for desktop and iOS users.

Traditionally, Chrome’s Safe Browsing feature relied on a periodically updated list to check if websites or files posed a potential danger. However, with malicious sites often fleeting, existing for less than 10 minutes on average, this method had its limitations. To address this, Chrome’s Standard protection mode will now verify sites against a real-time, server-side list of known malicious URLs. This shift is expected to increase the efficacy of phishing attack prevention by 25 percent.

The real-time protection employs encryption and privacy-enhancing techniques, ensuring that the user’s browsing activity remains private, even from Google. Despite the added security layer, Google assures that browser performance will remain unaffected. This update is already available for desktop and iOS users, with an Android rollout planned later in the month.

Chrome’s Password Checkup feature on iOS is also getting improvements. It now alerts users not only to compromised passwords but also to weak and reused ones. Alerts are triggered whenever a potentially insecure password is used, but users can proactively check their passwords anytime through the Safety Check section in Chrome Settings.

For those seeking even more robust security, Chrome offers an Enhanced Protection mode within Safe Browsing. This mode employs artificial intelligence to block attacks, conducts in-depth file scans, and provides additional safeguards against malicious Chrome extensions.