Google expands Safe Browsing to warn users of deceptive embedded content

midian182

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Google has announced that it is expanding its Safe Browsing technology to protect users from “deceptive embedded content” such as online ads that attempt to trick people into revealing personal information or masquerade as trusted entities requesting updates.

“Today, we’re expanding Safe Browsing protection to protect you from such deceptive embedded content, like social engineering ads,” wrote Lucas Ballard, a senior staff engineer on the Safe Browsing team.

Google improved its Safe Browsing initiative – launched eight years ago - in July last year as a way to warn users about a wider variety of unwanted software, in addition to the warnings they see regarding phishing pages, malware, and other threats. The technology was expanded last November to protect users from social engineering attacks.

The new update covers scam ads such as those that falsely claim a system needs updating, fake security alerts, third-party media players, and deceptive download buttons. These often download malicious software or take users to unsavory sites that offer subscriptions or attempt to steal personal information and banking details.

"These buttons seem like they will produce content that relate to the site (like a TV show or sports video stream) by mimicking the site's look and feel. They are often not distinguishable from the rest of the page,” warned Ballard.

Users visiting sites that contain deceptive embedded content will be met with the ‘Deceptive site ahead’ warning seen at the top of this page. Google has said that the updated Safe Browsing feature may have an impact on legitimate websites that display these type of ads.

"If visitors to your website consistently see social-engineering content, Google Safe Browsing may warn users when they visit the site," Google notes.

While tech-savvy internet users know to avoid these kind of ads like the plague, not everyone realizes the dangers they pose. Google’s crackdown is a welcome one, and will no doubt result in number of Safe Browsing warnings – already at more than 5 million a day – increasing drastically.

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I think I accidentally on purpose, forgot to install flash when I reformatted my ancient "erotic art hunter" PC. Accordingly, I get the "this content requires Adobe Flash to play" ad quite frequently. As it stands, I have no idea which ad is fake, or which is the real deal. My solution? I just ignore them all.;)

Besides, if you actually have something which is .flv you'd like to play, that's what the VLC Player is for.
 
SOB, I'm just now getting used to MS telling me that. I was hoping they invented that concept.
I'm sure at some point, access to such largess by the general public will be at the center of a patent dispute between M$ and the big "G". (I'm hoping M$ will lose, and in the settlement they'll have to remove "G:/" from their hard drive naming scheme).
 
So let me get this straight. I don't Google. I don't Gmail. I hate Google and all it's robber baron ways and its "everything should be free" koolaid drinking minions, but now, I get an Alphabet soup of warnings because Safe Harbor is embedded in Firefox, et al and Google feels like I shouldn't be able to non-click without them knowing?

about:config
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.updateURL
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.reportURL
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.lists
browser.safebrowsing.provider.google.gethashURL
 
So let me get this straight. I don't Google. I don't Gmail. I hate Google and all it's robber baron ways and its "everything should be free" koolaid drinking minions, but now, I get an Alphabet soup of warnings because Safe Harbor is embedded in Firefox, et al and Google feels like I shouldn't be able to non-click without them knowing?
Google does suck big time. At least until you try to find something with Yahoo. With that said, the same thing attaches to Google as manly types used to attach to women, "you can't live with them, but you can't live without them either". And so it goes with Google. Google is everywhere. In fact, at this very minute, one of their invisible spider bots is most likely climbing up your wall, watching you type rude things about them....:eek::D

I thought it was a slam dunk given, the Google was either following you around the web, or you were very often being routed through their servers. I haven't clicked on many pages in recent memory where "NoScript" hasn't offered me the option to, "allow ", googleanalytics.com"

In fact, my browser is blocking a couple of Google scripts, even as we speak.

(googleusercontent.com & googletagmanager.com)
 
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because maybe tomorrow someone will build a better search engine than google and you would change your mind - that's how the tech world works.
I realize it's a bit late to reply to this. But, if somebody builds a better search engine than Google, beings as it would likely be a "start up", Google will simply buy it.
 
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