Google Chrome's big security update features real-time URL checking

Summary

• Google Chrome steps up security with real-time Safe Browsing updates, blocking more phishing attempts.
• Password Checkup on iOS now scans for weak and reused passwords, enhancing overall security.
• Privacy preserved with OHTTP server between Chrome and Safe Browsing, keeping user IP addresses hidden.

Oftentimes, your browser is the first point of defense between your PC and the viruses strewn across the internet. There are other ways you can catch a nasty computer virus, but for the most part, clicking a shady download link or falling for a convincing phishing email are the main ways people end up with something bad on their system.

As such, there's a huge onus on browser developers to provide a huge amount of safeguarding to act as the first line of defense against any malicious agents out there. Google is no exception, and it has been hard at work to make Chrome as secure as it can be. The internet giant has just revealed a big range of security updates coming to your browser, which should keep you safer than ever before.

Google Chrome's big cybersecurity update

Google didn't hold back with its latest security update, with two good features coming out for Chrome. The first will affect all clients, while the second will apply only to iOS users.

Safe Browsing becomes a real-time checker

If you haven't been clicking around shady websites, you likely don't even realise that Chrome comes with a built-in Safe Browsing feature. This keeps tabs on the websites you're visiting, and if it spots that you're going somewhere shady, it will give you a warning telling you that the location isn't safe to go to.

To do this, Chrome uses a list on your computer and checks it every time you visit a website. This list contains the URLs of all the bad websites Google is aware of, and every 30 to 60 minutes, Chrome will automatically update the list with new entries. However, Google noticed that this was actually not fast enough, as the average malicious website lives for less than 10 minutes.

Now, Chrome will keep this list updated in real time. The moment Google spots a bad website, your version of Chrome will get all the details it needs to protect you from it. Google reckons that this move alone will "block 25% more phishing attempts," which is some pretty good going if the prediction comes true.

Chrome also quells any worries about tracing your browsing activity through Safe Browsing:

In order to preserve user privacy, we have partnered with Fastly, an edge cloud platform that provides content delivery, edge compute, security, and observability services, to operate an Oblivious HTTP (OHTTP) privacy server between Chrome and Safe Browsing. With OHTTP, Safe Browsing does not see your IP address, and your Safe Browsing checks are mixed amongst those sent by other Chrome users. This means Safe Browsing cannot correlate the URL checks you send as you browse the web.

You'll see this new feature rolling out to desktop and iOS devices starting today, while Android features will receive the feature later in March 2024.

Password Checkup on iOS gets a boost

If you're using Google Chrome on an iPhone, you'll now see an enhanced Password Checkup. Beforehand, this feature would only warn you if one of your passwords was spotted in an account leak, warning you to change it. However, it will now also scan your passwords for any that you have used multiple times across different accounts, plus any that Google Chrome deems too weak to protect your accounts with. It's an easy way to keep your password hygiene in good shape; just give the checkup a run every so often and tweak any that Google labels as insecure.

The update should be live on iOS right now, so update your Chrome and see if you've got the feature.