Have you noticed a Safe Browsing prompt when opening Google Chrome on your phone or PC lately? If the answer is a worrisome “yes”, there’s no need to fret. Chrome is proactively asking users to try its new Safe Browsing feature that debuted last year. If you hit “yes” on the option, you will be led into the Chrome’s settings to alter the settings.
However, there’s much more to Safe Browsing than it appears. If you are one of those people who are uncomfortable sharing data with Google, you might not be rushing to turn it on yet. Safe Browsing has a lot of T&Cs and you should ideally read through them before turning it on.
Since a lot of us are seeing the Safe Browsing prompts these days, here’s a quick look on what it is and how it works.
Enhanced Safe Browsing: What is it?
Safe Browsing has been around for a while and is actively used in Gmail as well as Google Search. On Chrome, the feature works by keeping an eye on everything you are browsing. Be default, the feature will share additional security data directly with Google Safe Browsing to enable more accurate threat assessments.
“Chrome will also send a small sample of pages and suspicious downloads to help discover new threats against you and other Chrome users,” says Google.
If you have a profile logged in to Chrome, Google says it will temporarily link that data with your profile. Why? Because “We do this so that when an attack is detected against your browser or account, Safe Browsing can tailor its protections to your situation. In this way, we can provide the most precise protection without unnecessary warnings. After a short period, Safe Browsing anonymizes this data so it is no longer connected to your account,” adds Google.
Google says that with the Enhanced Protection on duty, users can expect to see proactive protection against dangerous websites and downloads and extensions. The data is also used to warn in the case of password breaches.
If you enable the Standard Protection, Google won’t collect your browsing data and simply checks URLs with Safe Browsing.
How to change Safe Browsing settings?
Whether you buy the idea of Google tracking your browsing data for protection, or loathe the concept, Chrome gives you the option to choose the level of protection you seek. And, it is easy to alter. You can check this link to go directly.
– Head over to Privacy and Security under Settings
– Under that, head over to Security.
– You can choose from the three modes, with “Enhanced protection” being the most secure and “No Protection” offering nothing.
