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The chances of you getting sucked in by a phishing site just got a little lower if you’re using the Google Chrome browser.
Bad actors use all kinds of tactics, including phishing websites, to get at your personal data, but this move from Google just made it a little harder for them to get to yours.
Google announced some updates to how Google Safe Browsing in the Chrome browser handles URL checking. According to the announcement on Google’s Keyword blog, the feature previously used a list of bad websites that was updated every 30 to 60 minutes. With this update, Chrome will now use a list that’s updated in real-time.
According to Google, “Safe Browsing assesses more than 10 billion URLs and files every day, showing more than 3 million user warnings for potential threats.” The move to checking URLs in real-time is expected to prevent up to 25 percent more phishing attacks than when the list was updated every 30 to 60 minutes.
The feature also uses encryption to ensure that no one knows what websites you’re visiting.
Google’s Password Checkup also got an update for the iOS app. Now, Password Checkup will flag weak and reused passwords in addition to flagging passwords that have been compromised. If a weak or reused password is detected, you’ll receive an alert to that effect. (Not at all creepy that Google knows that, right?)
Both of these updates are available now and are in addition to other improvements Google has made to the Safe Browsing features, like warnings about bad extensions.
