Google Chrome improves website isolation techniques and phishing detection

Google Chrome has a new update rolling out to all platforms right now and it brings some significant updates in terms of privacy and security. By publishing this update, users will be able to toggle website permissions by site and Google says this feature will be expanded even further in the future. This update will also offer users more access to Chrome actions, it will also streamline the process and perform a security check on both the browser and the account that is logged in. Google has also improved website isolation techniques and phishing detection in the browser. Google says that these features have had a significant impact on the speed and stability of the browser.

The latest update to Google Chrome offers users the ability to allow each site they navigate to a separate set of permissions. These can be selected by tapping the lock button on the left of the address bar. This opens the permissions section and users can enable or disable permissions such as camera, location, and microphone, as requested by the site. A Google Chrome employee Audrey An mentioned that in a future update this per-site permission feature will be further expanded and will allow users to remove each website from their Chrome browsing history.

The new update is also expanding on Chrome Actions. Chrome Actions allow users to put simplified commands to access specific settings in Chrome, for example, "edit passwords". This feature will also be further expanded to allow users to perform quick security checks. This security check can be done by typing "run security check" in Chrome's address bar. The security check will check for Chrome updates, inspect your safe browsing settings, and more. It will also check to see if any of your passwords have appeared in a breached password repository and warn you if they have. Obviously then you will need to change these passwords.

As An explains in the Google blog post, Chrome has also gotten better at phishing detection thanks to "better site isolation tech". "Site Isolation will now cover a broader range of sites, as well as extensions, and all of this comes with tweaks that improve Chrome's speed. You can have the best of both worlds — speed and security — with our next update, too. Phishing continues to be one of the leading threats on the web, but protecting against such attacks can sometimes impact browser speed. With the latest improvements in image processing in Chrome, phishing detection is now 50 times faster and drains less battery," An explained.

The latest update also includes a new privacy sandbox setting that will allow users to opt-out of Google's privacy sandbox testing with Chrome and opt out of (or opt-out) controversial Google tracking. Google's FLoC. It will also allow users to reset groups/cohorts within privacy settings manually. The new Chrome 92 update is rolling out to Android currently and should be coming to all other platforms soon.