The search engine giant is taking it further to secure its mobile Internet browser -- Chrome users that access the web on Android devices will now be protected to a much better extent with Safe Browsing enabled by default. Mountain View says that Google Safe Browsing is already enabled over a billion desktop users in order to protect its users from the harmful contents that plague the Internet such as malware, phishing attacks, unwanted software and social engineering sites.
Android users will have the Google Safe Browsing feature already turned on by default. This new client on Android is part of the Google Play Services from version 8.1. Chrome will be the first app to have it, starting with version 45. To verify that it is indeed enabled, users of the platform can check it at the Settings menu, followed by the Privacy menu. Chrome will then warn its users about the dangerous sites, all while preserving their privacy similar to how it operates on desktop.
Even before, the Android platform and Google Play Store have been protected users against potentially harmful apps. And as cyber threats and attacks get more sophisticated, Google in turn has improved its detection to keep Android app users safe from harmful contents. However, not all dangers to mobile users come straight from applications.
Social engineering such as phishing requires a different type of protection, and Google says it needs to keep an up-to-date list of sites with bad reputation on Android devices to make sure it can warn people before they browse it. According to Google, offering this protection to mobile devices would be much more difficult to do than on desktops.
Google is cracking down the harmful contents found in the Internet so that users won't have to discover it the hard way. Furthermore, the company's protection shouldn't be a burden to the users' networking costs or batteries.
