Google’s Advanced Protection Program is the company’s strongest security for personal or business accounts of anyone at risk of targeted attacks, like political campaigns, journalists, business leaders, etc.
Google brought the Advanced Protection Program (APP) to its Chrome browser last year. And now, APP in Chrome is letting users send risky files to the cloud for a thorough malware scan.
The Advanced Protection Program bundles together Google’s most substantial security measures to “secure people at higher risk of targeted online attacks.” The attack protection is mainly for activists, journalists, and political campaigns.
Google Chrome is getting safer than ever
As reported by TechRadar, Google has announced that it will expand the features of its Advanced Protection Program. The APP allows users to send risky files to the company to be scanned for malware and other threats.
Google first introduced its Advanced Protection Program (APP) three years ago to help secure the accounts of certain people. These include journalists, political organizations, activists, and other users at higher risk of targeted online attacks.
APP users are already well protected from phishing attacks, which is why cybercriminals are now trying to trick them into downloading malicious files instead. Back in August 2019, the tech giant began warning APP users when they downloaded a file that could be malicious.
According to a new blog post, Google is expanding its program. And this is by giving Chrome users the ability to send risky files. Before opening the file, the data will be scanned. The full suite of malware detection technology in Google Safe Browsing will do the work.
While this helps and gives additional protection to Chrome users, Google also expects that these cloud-hosted scans will significantly improve its ability to detect malicious files. And even though it’s not something most people need, it is available to anyone as long as you are using Google Chrome.
How does this safe browsing works?
“Google’s strongest security helps keep your private information safe.”
This statement is what you will see in Google APP’s page overview. You can join here: https://landing.google.com/advancedprotection/.
Once Google’s Advanced Protection Program downloads a file, Safe Browsing will first perform a quick check using metadata, including hashes from the file, to evaluate whether it appears to be suspicious. Chrome will also warn users regarding the file and will send the file to be scanned automatically.
If the user chooses to send the file to Google, Chrome will upload it to Google Safe Browsing, which will then scan it using its static and dynamic analysis techniques in real-time. After a short wait, Chrome will warn the user if the Safe Browser determines the file is unsafe.
Users can still bypass this warning and open a file. Yes, even without scanning, they can still open the file. That is if they are confident that the file is safe. For additional security reasons, Safe Browsing deletes any files uploaded to it shortly after they’re scanned.
Images used courtesy of TechGumbo/YouTube Screenshot