Google Chrome is one update more secure than its counterparts after Mountain View rolled out a new update for the browser’s application programming interface. After all, the most advisable action to stay safe online is to have the latest software update from tech companies.
It’s good news for many who use Google Chrome, including myself, since the Safe Browsing API is our only tool to detect malicious activity in a website we visit. As a vanguard of security in the Internet, our browser therefore needs to constantly scale up to the demands of time and technological evolution, be it a good or bad technology.
Especially that Google Chrome is being used by approximately half of the world’s desktop users based on the results from StatCounter, the update means phishing operators will now have a hard time targeting hundreds of millions of users across the globe. That is so because the Safe Browsing API contains updates of the newest malware threats and phishing attacks.
We know from previous articles that phishing – the kind of attack used to lure you into handing your personal data to hackers – is one of the most widely used form of attack in the Internet.
With the updated Safe Browsing API, Google just refreshed its roster of malicious websites, which will be blocked if you happen to stumble upon them in your Internet surfing activity. These websites are injected with malicious codes, and Google’s API will help you to make sure a certain website is free from infection.
The tool also helps users to determine if a link is safe, because it is one of the primary vectors used by phishing operators to bring unsuspecting users to their malicious sites. So before you click on a specific URL, make sure it has passed the Google API.
The update is not only beneficial to Google Chrome users, but to other browsers as well because it is an open API, meaning Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera will have access to the list of bad websites vetted by Google.
Not only browsers, but the update extends to all applications that scour the Internet for info. The comprehensive security update is a helpful support to initiatives intended to clean the Internet, at least, from phishing, though a totally safe browsing is hard to warrant.
Nonetheless, for your added protection be sure to be wary of messages – either on your email or pop up dialogue boxes – that offer you something too good to be true and then asks you in return for something else. Also, update every software you have installed in your PC in order to get the latest patch for flaws.
