Full screen security warnings coming to Google Chrome
When talking about security for the masses, the user interface is often more important than the algorithm behind it. Google has decided that the Chrome browser needs more flexibility when it comes to handling the download intention of potentially harmful files, so this piece of code will soon get a full screen security warning, which also provides a chance to proceed with the download.
Right now, the Safe Browsing feature in Google Chrome automatically blocks files considered malicious, so even those that are 100% safe cannot be downloaded right away. However, a click in the downloads page menu will bring up an option to download the file, so it's not that hard either. Last year, Google enabled real-time checks and also added warnings regarding malicious extensions in Chrome. Currently, a full screen warning is being tested, and it will also offer a chance to download the file(s) in question much easier.
When choosing to download the potentially harmful file anyway, the full screen warning leads to a screen with the following three options:
- I created this file
- I trust the site
- I'm willing to accept the risk
The user's choice is irrelevant, because picking any of these options has the same result, which is the download of the file in question. To avoid all the hassle, the user could also just drop the link to the desired file in a download manager. As long as an active antivirus is guarding the system, everything should be fine. After the download, those really concerned about the content that they are about to run could just upload it to VirusTotal.com and scan it once again (the site also provides the option to scan a link instead of a downloaded file).
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