Google Will Now Warn You About Fake Download Buttons On Websites

Google is making a big move to help protect its most prized asset: you. In case you didn’t know, Google has a Safe Browsing security team.

This highly specialized group of engineers and technology platforms help, “identify unsafe websites and notify users and webmasters so they can protect themselves from harm.” Scanning millions of URLs each day, it alerts web browsers if they’ve stumbled upon an unsafe environment.

Recently, Google added another safety tool to its kit: alerting someone if they come across a site that may be trying to trick them into giving their personal information (like passwords, credit cards, and phone numbers).

It will also warn the web surfer if the website falsely claims they have out of date software – and attempts to have them download damaging programs through the display of fake buttons, also known as “social engineering.”

When this happens, Google will display a big red warning sing (like the one above). I’m glad to see Google is continually committed to helping protect its people. Kudos.

[h/t: LifeHacker]