Google Chrome’s five security features that every user should know

Search giant Google recently rolled out a new iteration of its Chrome browser. The latest version called the Chrome v79, which is available for users on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS, Android, and iOS platforms, has some new privacy and security features to keep you and your data safe.

Here are the 5 most easy ways of securing your data on Google Chrome:

Passwords protection

Google users will now be alerted if they are signing up on a website or anywhere else, using a password that has been exposed to some data breach. This feature is basically an integration of Google's recently launched Password Checkup tool. The tool alerts users about hacked passwords. The brand claims users have the option to control the feature through the Settings under Sync and Google services.

Real time phishing protection

Google is now extending predictive phishing protection for websites that may trigger phishing. In a blog post it said, "Now we'll be protecting your Google Account password when you sign in to Chrome, even if Sync is not enabled. In addition, this feature will now work for all the passwords you store in Chrome's password manager. Hundreds of millions more users will now benefit from the new warnings." '

The company has claimed that it will provide real-time phishing protections on desktop, which users can avail by enabling "Make searches and browsing better" setting in Chrome.

Disable or Encrypt Data Syncing

Bookmarks and browsing history are usually saved on the user's device computer. If sync is enabled data from the device is going to Google. In order to not share data with Google, one has to disable syncing. To disable sync, follow these steps

• Tap on three dots on top right corner of Google Chrome

• Go to Settings

• Choose 'people' from the list on left side

• Your account name will appear with an option on the right to Turn on or off Sync

• Toggle it, to Sync off

If a person uses multiple devices and has data sync across all of them, then instead of disabling the option to sync, the user can encrypt all data with a passphrase. To use this feature, Chrome will ask the person to create a passphrase that will be needed on every device that needs to be synced. To keep this data private, ensure the passphrase chosen is not the same as the one for the Google account.

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Refreshed UI for Profile

The new feature that has been rolled out with latest version shows the name aside of the profile picture of the account who's been switched to. Other features as tab freezing, back-forward caching mechanism, restricting the HTTPS "mixed content" sites to load have been added to ensure no data is leaked.

Enable "Safe Browsing" and "Do Not Track"

Safe Browsing feature can help in prevent certain malicious or poorly secured sites from opening in your browser. With the Do Not Track feature, websites cannot track the amount of time a user spends on any given page. Apart from that, this feature also stops the website from tracking your behavior, which includes the type of information that interests you.