Google Chrome’s latest update rolls in with per-site permissions, better phishing protection

Google Chrome has a new update rolling out across platforms right now and it brings in some significant upgrades in terms of privacy and security. Post this upgrade users will be able to toggle website permissions on a per-site basis and Google says this feature is going to be expanded further in the future. This update will also allow users more Chrome Actions access, it is also going to streamline the process and do a safety check on both the browser and the signed-in account. Google has also improved the website isolation techniques and phishing detection on the browser. The company says that these features have had a significant impact on the speed and stability of the browser.

The latest update on Google Chrome brings in the ability for users to allow each site they browse a separate set of permissions. These can be selected by tapping on the lock button on the left of the address bar. This pulls up the permission section and users can toggle on or off on permissions like camera, location, and microphone, as requested by the site. A Google Chrome product manager called Audrey An mentioned that in a future update this per-site permission feature is going to be expanded further and is going to allow users to delete each website from their Chrome browsing history.

The new update is also expanding on Chrome Actions. The Chrome Actions allow users to put simplified commands to access specific settings on Chrome, for example, ‘edit passwords’. This feature is also going to be further expanded to allow users to run quick safety checks. This safety check can be done by typing in ‘run safety check’ on the Chrome address bar. The safety check is going to check for Chrome updates, inspect your safe browsing settings, etc. It is also going to check if any of your passwords have turned up on a breached password repository and will warn you if they have. You will obviously need to change these passwords then.

As An explains in the Google blog post, Chrome has also gotten better at phishing detection thanks to “better site isolation tech”. “Site Isolation will now cover a broader range of sites, as well as extensions, and all of this comes with tweaks that improve Chrome’s speed. You can have the best of both worlds — speed and security — with our next update, too. Phishing continues to be one of the leading threats on the web, but protecting against such attacks can sometimes impact browser speed. With the latest improvements in image processing in Chrome, phishing detection is now 50 times faster and drains less battery,” An explained.

The latest update also brings in new Privacy Sandbox settings that will allow users to opt-out of Google’s Privacy Sandbox trials with Chrome and opt-in (or opt-out) of Google’s controversial FLoC tracking. It is also going to allow users to reset the groups/cohorts within the privacy settings manually. The new Chrome 92 update is rolling out on Android currently and it should come to all other platforms soon.