Google debuts customized warning for social engineering sites

Google Chrome users will from now on be faced with a new, customized warning every time they visit a website/page that contains social engineering content:

“The threat landscape is constantly changing—bad actors on the web are using more and different types of deceptive behavior to trick you into performing actions that you didn’t intend or want, so we’ve expanded protection to include social engineering,” Google’s Emily Schechter and Noé Lutz explained the move.

Social engineering sites include those that are created to trick users into downloading and executing malware or unwanted software (e.g. fake updates); those sporting fake warnings, instructing users to contact “tech support” via a given phone number; pages spoofed to look like login pages of popular services (incorrect URL, lack of https is often a good indication that the site is not legitimate):


Users should keep in mind that the alert won’t show for all social engineering websites, just those who have already been flagged by Google. This list is regularly updated with newly spotted malicious sites by the Google Safe Browsing team, but that doesn’t mean that users should stop being careful.