Google launched the Advanced Protection Program last year. It is meant to protect Chrome users who have high visibility or sensitive information and are at an increased risk of targeted online cyber-attacks. This program prevents unauthorized access to their account, provides extra protection from harmful downloads, and keeps users’ personal information completely secure. It also adds a layer of protection to defend against various types of cyber-attacks like phishing attempts, hacking, state-organized attacks, etc. The people who are considered as ‘high-risk’ to become targets of such attacks include activists, journalists, celebrities, and politicians.
Now, this Advanced Protection Program is going to let Chrome users send any risky files they receive or any risky downloads to first send to the cloud where they can be thoroughly scanned for malware.
Google’s efforts to thoroughly scan emails on Gmail which come as attachments or URLs has already proved to be really fruitful because it has certainly decreased the instances of cybercrime taking place through malicious files sent over the email. However, the risk is always there, and the Advanced Protection Program in Chrome thinks that a further thorough scan of these risky files and downloads is necessary to provide maximum security to the users.
So, whenever a high-risk user receives a risky file from any source, whether known or unknown, Advanced Protection Program in Chrome will give the users an option to send those files to the cloud. Once there, Google will scan them through its Safe Browsing technology.
As per Google, when a user downloads a file, Safe Browsing malware detection technology will perform a quick but thorough scan. It will scan through the metadata and hashes associated or attached with that file, and then it will evaluate if it is potentially suspicious or not.
If Safe Browsing technology finds a suspicious file that is not completely risky but is still unsafe, the user will receive a warning and will be given the option for the file to be sent to the cloud for further screening and scanning. It will further take a short while and a warning will return for unsafe files.
However, users will always have the last say. If they want to disregard the warning, they may do so without any trouble from Chrome or APP, and they can open the file without scanning.
Google believes that these cloud-hosted scans will improve the overall security as they will be able to detect any malware before it causes any potential harm to the users. Chrome and APP also intend to continue adding new features to detect and combat threats of various natures in the future too.
Read next: Google Starts Rolling Out A Feature That Lets Chrome Block Ads That Slow Down The Web Browser
Featured Photo: SOPA Images via Getty Images
Now, this Advanced Protection Program is going to let Chrome users send any risky files they receive or any risky downloads to first send to the cloud where they can be thoroughly scanned for malware.
Google’s efforts to thoroughly scan emails on Gmail which come as attachments or URLs has already proved to be really fruitful because it has certainly decreased the instances of cybercrime taking place through malicious files sent over the email. However, the risk is always there, and the Advanced Protection Program in Chrome thinks that a further thorough scan of these risky files and downloads is necessary to provide maximum security to the users.
So, whenever a high-risk user receives a risky file from any source, whether known or unknown, Advanced Protection Program in Chrome will give the users an option to send those files to the cloud. Once there, Google will scan them through its Safe Browsing technology.
As per Google, when a user downloads a file, Safe Browsing malware detection technology will perform a quick but thorough scan. It will scan through the metadata and hashes associated or attached with that file, and then it will evaluate if it is potentially suspicious or not.
If Safe Browsing technology finds a suspicious file that is not completely risky but is still unsafe, the user will receive a warning and will be given the option for the file to be sent to the cloud for further screening and scanning. It will further take a short while and a warning will return for unsafe files.
However, users will always have the last say. If they want to disregard the warning, they may do so without any trouble from Chrome or APP, and they can open the file without scanning.
Google believes that these cloud-hosted scans will improve the overall security as they will be able to detect any malware before it causes any potential harm to the users. Chrome and APP also intend to continue adding new features to detect and combat threats of various natures in the future too.
Read next: Google Starts Rolling Out A Feature That Lets Chrome Block Ads That Slow Down The Web Browser
Featured Photo: SOPA Images via Getty Images
