It is increasingly common to find all kinds of hidden computer attacks on the network. From fake web pages that supplant the original webs to download links that download malware to our PC. And that without taking into account the vulnerabilities that browsers may have. Therefore, it is vital to always have the best possible protection so that we can be protected against these threats. And for this, Google Chrome offers us a security measure known as ” Enhanced Protection “.
Different levels of protection
All browsers offer users various levels of protection . And why is the highest level of protection not always used? Because there may be users who need to enter web pages that may not be secure (for example, within an intranet) and, therefore, if a very restrictive level of protection were used there would be problems. For this reason, by default, browsers usually offer the user a medium level of protection, in line with the majority of users being able to navigate without problems when visiting web pages and without taking risks.
Google Chrome, by default, comes with standard protection . This protection offers us:
- Detects and warns of dangerous events when they occur.
- Check the URLs saved in Chrome against a list of unsafe websites. If a website tries to steal your password or download a malicious file, Chrome will send the URL, and all content snippets on the page, to Safe Browsing mode.
This protection mode allows us to enable two more options:
- It allows us to send the URLs we visit and limited information about them to Google to help us detect new threats.
- Show warnings when we use insecure passwords or the keys that we have saved have been exposed in a database theft.
In addition, the browser offers us an even safer browsing mode, improved protection . This mode will take care of protecting us much better, before visiting dangerous websites and before downloading files or extensions that may endanger our security. Some of the features that we find in this mode are:
- Prediction and warning of dangerous events before they occur.
- Protects when using Chrome and allows us to improve security when using other Google applications when we are logged in.
- Improve our security and that of all users on the Internet.
- Notify if the passwords we have saved are exposed in a data security breach.
- Submit the URLs to Safe Browsing mode for verification. It also sends certain browsing information to help detect new threats. If we are logged in with a Google account, link this data to our account temporarily to protect Google applications.
Finally, it also offers us the unprotected mode. This mode is not recommended under any circumstances, as it does not check or block anything. It is the least safe, and we will navigate at our own risk.
Activate Google Chrome Enhanced Protection
By default, Chrome activates the standard protection mode for all users, along with the optional measures that we have seen in the previous point. However, if we want to be truly protected, then we must change the enhanced protection mode.
To do this, we must write ” chrome: // settings / security ” in the browser’s address bar, to go directly to the Chrome security section. Here we will find the “Safe browsing” section from where we can choose the level of security we want.
We mark the option “Enhanced protection” and Chrome will automatically begin to protect us better thanks to this function. We don’t have to do anything else.
In case of having problems when downloading files or visiting certain websites, what we can do is choose the “standard protection” mode again and that’s it. Once again we recommend not using the “No protection” mode.
Other protection functions
In addition to the protection modes that Chrome offers us, in the same previous section we are going to find other options that will allow us to improve browsing security to be able to browse the web without fear.
The most important is ” Use secure DNS “. What this function allows us to do is, instead of sending all DNS traffic (the web addresses we visit) in plain text, without encryption, to the server configured in Windows, it allows us to apply an additional layer of protection.
Google allows us to try to use our DNS in a safe way (if they are supported), or to choose a custom or pre-configured DNS from the list that guarantee this privacy.
We will also find a button called ” Manage certificates “. This is very important if we have different certificates installed on the PC and we want to be sure that there are no unauthorized certificates on the PC that could endanger us.
Finally, we will also find a link to Google’s advanced protection program. It is responsible for protecting personal Google accounts from anyone who is at risk of targeted attacks. An assistant thanks to which we can make sure that our data is well protected and we will not take any risk.
