Explained: Google's Enhanced Safe Browsing in your Gmail account

If you've opened Gmail in your web browser lately, you might have found a notice that says "Safe Browsing Enhanced." There is an option to delay or dismiss the notice, but it might have piqued your interest. We all want to be safe online amid surges in online scams. Google says enabling "Enhanced Safe Browsing" helps users "get faster, more proactive protection against dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions." It works automatically and improves your security inGoogle Chrome and Gmail.

The indicator started rolling out last week, and more users are seeing it. Google explains that enabling Enhanced Safe Browsing provides a "real-time" security scan to warn users about malicious websites, software, and extensions. It also improves Google's ability to detect and protect against phishing and malware for you and everyone on the web. Google adds that it gives users "better protection" against dangerous links in Google apps.

To manage Enhanced Safe Browsing for your account, users need to open Google Account > Select security on the left > scroll and find Enhanced Safe Browsing for your account > Enable or disable it.

Google adds that the setting can take up to 24 hours to start.

Google's update comes when online scams are on the rise. With the rapid expansion of free-to-use generative AI platforms, scammers may find it much easier to customize convincing email scams, even those through Gmail. While Enhanced Safe Browsing can have many benefits, Google also collects data to safeguard privacy. The Official FAQ Notes:

"To help protect your account and data, Enhanced Safe Browsing for your account checks for risks: URLs, Downloads, Browser extensions, System information, and a Small sample of pages."

Google has suggested that collected data is anonymized after a short period to protect privacy. However, citing a Princeton and Stanford universities study, CNET notes that "anonymized data, including search histories, can be linked to social media profiles using publicly available data."

The feature may also hurt new developers, who may have to wait for Google's trusted certification. This is because, of late; the company has started to follow strict developer program policies. A waiting period of months could hurt new developers. From users' point of view, Enhanced Safe Browsing is a good option, but users need to follow basic hygiene to ensure online protection. This includes avoiding downloading software from untrustworthy sources and searching for URLs.