Google has been promoting one of its biggest security initiatives across Gmail, as it looks to help users stay safe from online threats.
As noted by 9to5Google, users of the Gmail email app on Android and desktop have been seeing pop-ups reminding them of the company’s Enhanced Safe Browsing feature, with the tool’s anti-phishing protection taking on a prominent role.
“Enable Enhanced Safe Browsing to get additional protection against dangerous emails,” the alert reads, with users given the option to continue or opt out.
Gmail security reminder
If selected, users then go to their Gmail account’s security settings to enable Enhanced Safe Browsing. Users are reminded that the tool can give them, “faster and more proactive protection against dangerous websites, downloads and add-ons” – but also that they can disable it at any time.
Enhanced Safe Browsing was launched in 2020, initially for the company’s Google Chrome browser, before later expanding to cover Gmail as well. The tool is able to check every URL you visit online against a real-time list of suspicious or malicious websites to make sure you’re not putting yourself at risk.
It will also monitor any dangerous or malicious links in your Google app collection, and any information collected will be collected and collated by the company to improve its phishing and malware detection efforts.
The tool was expanded to cover Google Chrome extensions in June 2021 following a series of security issues related to malicious extensions, and is also available for the iOS version of the browser.
