Google has added a new measure to protect users from visiting risky websites. It’s now going to warn users about bogus downloads, even before they go to the website concerned. The changes will affect Google Search, users of the Chrome browser, and advertisements provided by Google to third-party websites. Safe Browsing Warnings Extended to Chrome Google’s Chrome browser will now contain special warning messages built into the web browser. The warnings are part of Google’ Safe Browsing Service , which is also available as a third party API (application program interface). Parts of the Safe Browsing Service are also used in conjunction with Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari web browsers.
A warning message from Google’s Safe Browsing may appear for two reasons. The first is when the user is about to visit a webpage that’s known or believed to house the most serious type of malware. Such malware is responsible for “drive-by” attacks, in which simply accessing a malicious web site is enough to trigger the malware being installed onto a computer. At one point, such warning messages appeared 60 million times a day. In 2015, the figure is closer to 20 million a day. (Source: google.com)
The second situation is when users are about to download any file that might harm their computer. In many cases such files have been misleadingly described, and users intentionally download them, but don’t realize their true nature.
In both cases, users can go ahead and visit the website or start the download, but will have to explicitly click a disclaimer acknowledging they understand the risks.
I received this information from John Lister.
