GOOGLE has expanded Chrome’s protections against scams and social engineering, introducing new site warnings, Gemini-powered analysis on the server, and a mechanism to detect ClickFix commands. The updates sit within Enhanced Protection, the higher-trust mode of Safe Browsing that Google says makes users ten times safer than Standard Protection against phishing, social engineering and related abuses.
Chrome now offers two levels of Safe Browsing site warnings: full red “dangerous site” warnings for high‑confidence malicious pages, and a new “suspicious site” level for lower‑confidence verdicts that uses its own distinct design to surface deceptive tactics without overwhelming users. Gemini-based scam detection has moved from on‑device to server‑side processing for Enhanced Protection users, broadening coverage to include fake antivirus and fake browser update pages.
Google emphasises that page text is only analysed when there are strong signs of a scam and that any content leaving the device is not logged or used to train AI models.
Separately, Chrome will now prompt users before connecting to a site over unencrypted HTTP, a feature already available to Enhanced Protection users and rolled out by default for all users. The prompt appears on the first visit to an HTTP site and, if approved, will not reappear for at least two weeks. Google notes that many sites cannot obtain publicly trusted HTTPS certificates (for example, single-label hostnames or local IPs) and that such hosts pose lower risk since tampering would require on‑path access.
Early rollout data indicate roughly 95% of desktop Chrome users see no HTTP warnings in a given week, with mobile users encountering them even less often.