New Delhi: Google Chrome is strengthening its online security features with Gemini-powered scam detection and new warnings to protect users from deceptive websites and malicious commands linked to ClickFix attacks.
Google is introducing the updated safeguards through Enhanced Protection in Chrome’s Safe Browsing feature. Google claims this setting offers users ten times greater protection against phishing, social engineering, abusive notifications and other online scams compared with Standard Protection.
Chrome is also introducing a new “suspicious site” alert for webpages displaying potentially deceptive behaviour. The warning is intended to cover sites that may not meet the threshold for Chrome’s existing full-screen red security alert, allowing the browser to caution users about a wider range of potential threats.
Google said the new warning system identifies patterns commonly associated with malicious websites, enabling it to expand the number of users receiving security alerts.
Gemini moves to server-side analysis
Chrome previously relied on an on-device Gemini model to identify technical support scams. Under the latest update, Enhanced Protection users will benefit from a more powerful server-side model.
The system evaluates signals including a webpage’s represented brand, apparent intent and likelihood of being fraudulent. Safe Browsing combines this assessment with domain reputation and other security indicators to determine potential risks.
Google said webpage text is analysed only when strong indicators of a scam are detected. Any content sent to its servers is processed temporarily and is not logged, retained or used to train its models, the company stated.
Protection against ClickFix attacks
The update also targets ClickFix scams, which manipulate users into executing malicious commands themselves through tools such as PowerShell or Command Prompt.
When Chrome detects a potentially dangerous command copied from a suspicious webpage, it removes personally identifiable information from the clipboard data and submits the relevant content to Safe Browsing for analysis. If the command is identified as dangerous, the browser displays a warning before the user proceeds.
The measures aim to strengthen Chrome’s defences against increasingly deceptive online threats.
