14 DAY TRIAL // Chrome will now show a customized warning whenever the browser detects users navigating to websites known for social engineering attacks.
Eight years ago, Google fitted Chrome with Safe Browsing, a feature to protect users from malicious websites, and more specifically from phishing attacks, which at that point were at an all-time high when it came to effectiveness.
The Safe Browsing feature works in sync with a list of websites, which Google's security team regularly updates with new ones where phishing or malware attacks are detected.
A while back, Google also started tracking sites that were spreading PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs).
The best way to spread PUPs usually involves tricking users into thinking they need them. This kind of attack type is known as social engineering and can be very effective if users are not careful when navigating the Web.
To help educate users about these dangers, instead of showing the old, generic Safe Browsing page, Google is now adding a custom error for this type of attacks, as seen below.
These pages are meant to warn users of dangerous content ahead, but also let them know that cyber-criminals have a regular habit of mimicking authentic content.
The new error page is already available in Chrome, and we wish that the image below is the first and last of its kind you'll ever see.
