Google is strengthening Chrome’s security protections with a new warning system designed to identify suspicious websites before they are officially classified as dangerous.

The update introduces a new category called “Suspicious sites” to Chrome’s Enhanced Protection mode, giving users an additional warning when visiting websites that display signs of potentially malicious behaviour.

Until now, Chrome’s Safe Browsing system has largely relied on identifying websites considered dangerous enough to trigger its familiar full-screen red warning.

The new system goes a step further by flagging websites that exhibit suspicious characteristics, even when Google doesn’t have sufficient evidence to classify them as outright threats.

According to Google, these websites may display deceptive patterns commonly associated with phishing, online fraud and other malicious activities, but carry a lower-confidence security assessment.

Rather than displaying the standard red warning screen, Chrome will present a different alert using distinct colours, icons and messaging to help users understand the potential risk.

Websites already identified as dangerous will continue to trigger Chrome’s existing red security warning.

The additional protection could prove particularly useful as cybercriminals increasingly turn to artificial intelligence to create convincing copies of legitimate websites.

Fake online stores, banking portals and customer support pages can now closely resemble genuine services, making it difficult for users to recognise when they are being targeted.

By warning users earlier, Google hopes to reduce the likelihood of people entering passwords, financial details or other sensitive information into fraudulent websites.

Google Turns To More Powerful AI To Detect Scams

Alongside the new warnings, Google is upgrading the technology behind Chrome’s Enhanced Protection system.

The browser is moving away from its previous on-device Gemini model in favour of a more powerful server-side AI system capable of performing deeper website analysis.

The upgraded system can examine the brand a website claims to represent, the apparent purpose of its content and whether its behaviour suggests an attempt to deceive visitors.

Google Safe Browsing then combines those findings with domain reputation data and other security signals to determine whether a website should be flagged as suspicious or dangerous.

The approach is designed to identify potentially fraudulent websites that might otherwise slip through traditional security checks, particularly newly created scam pages that have not yet developed a known malicious reputation.

Chrome Also Targets Dangerous Copy-And-Paste Scams

Google is also expanding Chrome’s defences against a growing cybercrime technique known as ClickFix.

These attacks typically use fake error messages, security alerts or troubleshooting instructions to convince users to copy and execute malicious commands on their computers.

Victims may believe they are fixing a browser problem, completing a security verification or resolving a technical issue, when they are actually running commands that could install malware or compromise their systems.

Under the new protection, Chrome can identify suspicious commands copied by users and have Safe Browsing analyse them for potential threats.

If the commands are considered dangerous, Chrome will display an additional warning before users proceed.

The changes reflect Google’s efforts to tackle increasingly sophisticated online scams, particularly those using AI-generated content and social engineering techniques to trick unsuspecting users.

While no browser security system can eliminate every online threat, the additional warnings could provide an important safeguard for people who might otherwise struggle to distinguish legitimate websites from convincing imitations.

The new suspicious website detection and AI-powered protections form part of Chrome’s Enhanced Protection mode, which users can enable through the browser’s privacy and security settings.