Google is making Chrome for Android more secure with Site Isolation, a measure to address vulnerabilities such as Spectre and the like.
The caveat is that the new feature will use more of the resources on smartphones, which could be somewhat limited or not depending on the device. Still, the trade-off in the form of safer mobile browsing is arguably worthwhile.
Chrome 77 Adds Site Isolation
Google expanded Site Isolation to the Android version of Chrome in version 77. It has a pretty self-explanatory name in which it isolates a site from others so that harmful ones can't exploit it.
As the company explains in a blog post, attackers will have a more difficult time in stealing data from websites and is geared toward protecting users from Spectre-like vulnerabilities, as mentioned earlier.
However, Chrome for Android is using a "slimmer form of Site Isolation" to take into account the hardware limitations on mobile devices compared to desktop machines. That means it'll only work on fewer websites, namely "high-value sites" where users sign in with a password, such as pages for banking and online shopping.
Speaking of restrictions, the security measure is available only on Android devices that have at least 2 GB of RAM, but it's already enabled on 99 percent of those devices that meet the minimum requirements.
Regarding the impact Site Isolation has on resources, Google says that it's about "[3 percent to 5 percent] total memory overhead in real workloads." It does mention that it's optimizing the feature so that the mobile browser will not only be secure but fast as well.
Chrome Desktop Version's Site Isolation
On the other hand, the desktop version of Chrome runs Site Isolation all the time for every website users visit. The Chrome 77 update for the platform has also been improved to protect users from "significantly stronger attacks." In short, it's more robust than its mobile counterpart.
Site Isolation was introduced in Chrome 63, which rolled out back in December 2017.
