14 DAY TRIAL // Google has announced a couple of new protections for users of Chrome browser, as the company wants to lower the likelihood of users landing on phishing websites.
First and foremost, the application will begin warning users when they attempt to load what is being described as a “confusing URL.”
Basically, a confusing URL is considered to be a page with the address go0gle.com and which obviously tries to mimic google.com, most often as part of a phishing attack in order to steal users’ credentials.
Because the number of such attempts has skyrocketed, Google Chrome now displays a new warning when users point the browser to such a confusing URL.
“This new warning works by comparing the URL of the page you’re currently on to URLs of pages you’ve recently visited. If the URL looks similar, and might cause you to be confused or deceived, we’ll show a warning that helps you get back to safety,” Emily Schechter, Chrome Product Manager, explains.
Hello, Suspicious Site Reporter!
In addition, Google is also rolling out a new extension for Google Chrome whose role is specifically to allow power users to report domains that they think could be included in a phishing attack.
Called Suspicious Site Reporter, the extension sends a specific site for review, with Google engineers to then decide whether it should be placed to the Safe Browsing list or not.
“If the site is added to Safe Browsing’s lists, you’ll not only protect Chrome users, but users of other browsers and across the entire web,” Schechter notes.
Both these features are available right now in the latest version of Google Chrome, so if you’ve already updated to build 75, you should be able to see the warning for confusing URLs and install the extension to report potentially dangerous websites.