Gmail users are being encouraged to enable Google’s Enhanced Safe Browsing in both the Android app and on the web, 9to5Google has spotted.
An information box is appearing above the inbox for users checking their Gmail, promising “additional protection against phishing”.
“Turn on Enhanced Safe Browsing to get additional protection against dangerous emails,” the box reads. Users can dismiss the prompt by clicking or tapping “No thanks," while clicking “Continue” takes you to this page in your account where you can enable it.
What is Enhanced Safe Browsing?
First introduced in 2020, and then improved a year later, Enhanced Safe Browsing works in the background in both Gmail and Chrome to prove real-time web protection.
Google claims that those with Enhanced Safe Browsing enabled are phished 35% less often than those who haven’t opted in.
With it enabled, Enhanced Safe Browsing will be on the lookout for risky URLs, downloads, browser extensions and more. Google has claimed that those with it enabled are phished 35% less often than those who haven’t opted in.
For websites, it checks “uncommon URLS” against a list in real time to reduce the odds of you hitting a phishing site. With suspicious-looking downloads, Google gives enrolled users the option of uploading files to Google’s servers for a more thorough check. And with browser extensions, those made by developers who don’t follow Google’s Developer Program Policies include an option to find out what permissions they have, so you can risk-assess the possible damage yourself.
None of this is mandatory, and you can overrule Google at any time. But the idea is to make users think a bit more carefully about blindly clicking links or downloading potentially risky files.
Gmail: Paying it forward
Enrolling in the program will also mean you’re helping in the wider cybersecurity efforts. Google says it will send a “small sample of pages, downloads, extension activity and system information to help discover new threats”.
Though those who worry about their privacy may be put off by the fact that this “temporarily links this data to your Google Account when you're signed in” in order to “protect you across Google apps”.
While the mobile prompts currently only seem to be appearing on Android, the iOS version of Chrome also supports Enhanced Safe Browsing as of last year.
If you don’t see the prompt, but want to enroll, it’s really easy to do so. You can toggle the option on in your Google account by logging in here, or enable it in the Chrome settings via this address: chrome://settings/security.
