Chrome turns on real-time phishing protection (and monitoring)

From PC World: Despite more and more tools to keep you safe, the web isn’t actually getting any safer. To counter rising threats, Google has redesigned the Chrome browser’s built-in protection scheme into the revamped Safe Browsing. This new version of the distributed defense system actively monitors the URLs your browser visits, and pops up a warning screen the second you stray into a part of the internet Google has determined is threatening. The update, which comes with a wider set of Chrome feature additions, should be live for everyone over the next few weeks.

Phishing is a particular focus of the new Safe Browsing features, as the threat is actively evolving. According to Google’s blog post, 60 percent of the domains used in these attempts to steal user data and compromise personal computers and smart devices are live for less than ten minutes before disappearing. That makes an updated local list of dangerous domains less and less useful. Google’s solution is live monitoring, which checks the current URL against the centralized threat list in real time. Google says it offers a 25 percent increase in protection from phishing and malware.

This feature was previously available in the Enhanced Protection setting in Chrome’s security menu. Active monitoring will become the default, enabled in the Standard Protection setting mode. “A real-time check will result in only the current ‘known’ verdict for the URL,” according to information from a Google PR representative.

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