5 Reasons to Enable Enhanced Protection in Chrome

Google Chrome 's Enhanced Protection offers robust security that goes beyond standard filters by proactively detecting threats rather than relying solely on a list of known malware. It requires anonymous data sharing, which is why it's disabled by default, but the benefits far outweigh the trade-offs. Here are five compelling reasons why you should enable Enhanced Protection in Chrome.

 

1. Find the latest threats in real time

Chrome's standard security uses a list of known malicious URLs to detect and block access to malicious content. While the list is updated as new threats are discovered, it still can't protect against unknown threats. When Enhanced Protection is enabled, Chrome uses Machine Learning  and AI to scan content patterns to identify threats.

 

Chrome can detect new malicious websites and zero-day malware by looking at page scripts, load behavior, hashes, etc. that may indicate malicious intent. This means Chrome will provide protection against previously undiscovered threats, ensuring better protection against the latest threats.

2. Can detect sophisticated phishing attacks with Gemini Nano

Phishing attacks have become quite sophisticated these days, such as homophone attacks. Phishing pages can look almost identical to the original page, right down to the URL. Chrome has integrated Gemini Nano to handle such advanced attacks.

 

Gemini Nano is a lightweight version of Google Gemini, optimized to run locally in Chrome. It scans page scripts, text language, and page screenshots to compare them to the original website for small changes. This allows it to detect phishing attempts that could fool even the smartest users.

Google explains that LLM extracts these security signals and sends them anonymously to Google Safe Browsing for validation. Performance and privacy are also top priorities by anonymizing data, managing tokens, and adding moderation mechanisms.

3. Scan downloads more deeply

For downloads, Enhanced Protection goes a step further by sending the contents of suspicious files to Google Safe Browsing for further scanning. This doesn't happen for all downloads. The file needs to give certain signals that it's unsafe and hasn't been found on a blocklist to trigger this scan. Google confirms that the file will be deleted after scanning and will only be kept temporarily for security reasons.

Best of all, it works with compressed files even if they're encrypted. If the file is password protected, Chrome will ask for the password to scan it. Otherwise, it will scan it automatically without you having to enter it, warning you that unsafe downloads are blocked if they're found.

 

4. Protecting users on Google services

When you sign in to your Google account, this Chrome protection extends to the Google services you use. Notably, it affects content inside Gmail, Google Search, and Google Ads. For example, it scans for phishing email attempts and malicious URLs inside Gmail.

This feature will also scan ads and results in Google Search, warning you of a potentially malicious page by flagging it. This will ensure you don't even click on an infected page to expose your device.

5. You're contributing to a safer web for everyone

The main benefit of Enhanced Protection is that it can detect new threats as soon as they hit. Google automatically blocks and reports the threat as it's detected, so it's blocked for everyone without requiring everyone else to do additional scanning.

Newly identified threats are also blocked for users of Chrome's standard protection. Furthermore, since Google Safe Browsing is publicly available and app developers can use it to protect their apps, your contribution will enhance the security of all apps that use Google Safe Browsing. The more people use Enhanced Protection, the more secure it will be.