Google has expanded its Safe Browsing platform to pass threat information along to users via Chrome, Search and Google ads. For those who need proof of a website's potential to harm their computers, the warning pages include a "Details" button.
The Safe Browsing system targets millions of website that potentially contain malicious content in an effort to protect users from malware and phishing attempt. Google also uses Safe Browsing to encourage webmasters and security professionals to pitch in on squashing malicious content.
Safe Browsing was first added to Google Chrome in September 2011, though the system has been scanning sites for malware since 2008. The latest update to Safe Browsing enables Chrome to show warning pages before users continue on to a site the appears to contain malicious content.
"Safe Browsing helps keep you safe online and includes protection against unwanted software that makes undesirable changes to your computer or interferes with your online experience," says Lucas Ballard, a Google software engineer. "We recently expanded our efforts in Chrome, Search, and ads to keep you even safer from sites where these nefarious downloads are available."
The update to Safe Browsing for Chrome likely won't seem unfamiliar to many Internet users, as the red warning screen that Google's browser now displays looks similar to the caution pages that warn of sites that have been known to deploy phishing attempts and harbor malware.
As for the changes to Google Search, Safe Browsing now empowers the search engine with the ability to spot signs of deceptive websites and weed them out of results. The changes to Google ads were already underway before the recent announcement and they're still ongoing.
Back in December of 2014, Google made changes to its AdWords policy. The "Misrepresentation of self, product, or service" portion of the policy was replaced with the "Unwanted Software Policy."
The policy describes unwanted programs as software that doesn't adhere to the value proposition it presents, piggybacks on other software, attempts to trick users into installing it, is difficult to remove, doesn't disclose all of its features and collects or transmits data without the user's knowledge.
"At Google, we believe that if we focus on the user, all else will follow -- in our Software Principles, we provide general recommendations for software that delivers a great user experience," stated Google. "Software that violates these principles is potentially harmful to the user experience, and we will take steps to protect users from it."
