Google released Enhanced Safe Browsing for Chrome desktop in May. It’s also now released for Android smartphones. The idea is to provide the right solution for users based on the threats they are facing instead of looking for a universal answer.
Hackers are getting more sophisticated in their approach, and we must confront them equally if we are to protect our data and interests. We’ll show you how to enable Enhanced Safe Browsing in Android and how it works in the background to protect you from emerging threats.
Let’s get started.
How Enhanced Safe Browsing works
What Google will do is share ‘security data’ to assess threats in real time. For example, if you enter the URL of a popular site, Google won’t even notice, but if you enter an unpopular URL, Google will check to see if it’s a phishing page. All of this will happen before the website actually loads on your browser. This collected data will also help other Chrome users if they visit the same page. These bad/infected URLs are then added to the blocklist API shared with other Chrome users to protect them from the same threat you are facing. I expect the list to only grow over time. Google updates this list every 30 minutes, including downloads and extensions.
But this means that there is a 30-minute period before the listings are refreshed again, and so to address this issue, Google has released Enhanced Safe Browsing. It depends on real-time data to solve the delay problem. Why share real-time data? Hackers can silently switch phishing domains/URLs very quickly to avoid getting banned and bypassing block lists.
Google notes that sample data is associated with your Google account, but only temporarily. Google explains that this is done to help them provide consistent security protection against threats that target you, your region, or even your specific account.
This data is then anonymized to protect your identity and protect your profile on Google’s servers. Enhanced Safe Browsing is optional. So, if you are uncertain about data collection or depend on some other service to ensure your online presence, you can disable that service. We recommend enabling it. Part of that is because the amount of data Google has access to is unparalleled, and using machine learning and artificial intelligence, they’re better positioned to protect you. After all, billions of people use Google apps. And in part because Google already knows almost everything about you. If you’re worried about that, start using TOR or Brave for browsing, DuckDuckGo for search, and VPN for IP/identity masking.
How to Enable Enhanced Safe Browsing in Chrome Android
I recommend updating the Chrome app to the latest version to ensure that you have this feature on your phone. Open the Play Store, search for the Chrome app, and you’ll see a green Update button if the app isn’t up to date. You must be using Chrome version 86.0.4240.114 or later for this feature to work.
Step 1: Launch Chrome app on your phone and go to chrome://flags. You’ll type this in the address bar to reveal a hidden section where you can enable experimental features before they launch. Search Safe browsing in the search bar.
Step 2: You will be presented with Enhanced protection for safe browsing on Android flag. While that is obvious, you should also activate Security section on Android flag just below it. Select Enabled from the drop-down menu below each flag. Tap the Relaunch button at the bottom of the screen to relaunch Chrome. This is needed to commit the recently made changes.
Step 3: Tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper right corner to select Settings and tap Privacy & security.
Step 4: Click Safe Browsing inside. The setting was missing before, as you may have noticed. You’ll see there are three security settings to choose from—Enhanced, Standard, and Unprotected.
Step 5: The default mode is Standard Protection, but you need to tap Advanced Protection to activate it. There is a brief description below each option to further explain what it does. The real difference is that Standard Protection will update the block list every 30 minutes while Advanced Protection will update it in real time.
Guard
The web browser is our window to the world. That’s mostly how we get on the wild web. It would make sense to stop threats at the source instead of allowing it to infect our machines and find a way to get rid of them using anti-virus software and the like. Google took a step in the right direction, but frankly, they should have done it sooner. However, now is better than never.
This does not mean that you are free to open any website you want and not need to take care of your computer. Google isn’t the only one improving its game. Hackers are doing the same, and guess what? They regularly breach these defenses, wreaking havoc on their personal and professional lives. You can never be too cautious. This is just another tool in your arsenal. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own data and security. That’s just how it is.
Next: Looking for more flags to discover on your Chrome for Android browser? Click the link below to find our favorite Chrome flags.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
