Google To Block Insecure Downloads In Near Future

Google is planning to make Chrome secure for web and mobile users in the future, the company will inform all stakeholders initially and eventually block all the insecure downloads from the internet. The company has mentioned in a blog post yesterday that “Chrome will eventually ensure to download on secure (HTTPS) files from the internet.”

Google’s security team member Joe DeBlasio said, “The files that are downloaded from the internet by insure means are the real threat to user’s security and privacy, the programs downloaded by insecure means can be exploited by the hackers to swap them for malware also eavesdroppers can read users insecurely downloaded bank statements.

Google will release Chrome 82 in April, with the release of new Google Chrome, the company will intimate users about downloads whether they are secure or insecure or mixed content excecutables from a secure website.

This would be a warning for users and content developers starting from April, eventually, Google will release Chrome 83 which will block executable downloads, Google will also warn to archive files, files like PDF, .doc will get warning in Chrome 84 and later in Chrome 85 Google will warn about the files containing audio, video, text, and images and then in Chrome 86 all the insecure files from a secure site will be blocked.

The process will gradually implement all the changes Google wants to keep its users secure and safe, Google is expected to complete all these changes by October. DeBlasio said, All these gradual changes are the part of Google’s effort to fully bring developers to secure (HTTPS). Google started blocking downloading insecure content from secure websites last year, the warning would also come to Android and iOS versions of Chrome.

However, Google will delay implementing changes on Mobile devices as mobile platforms are better protected against malicious files. Google will start warning mobile users in Chrome 83 providing developers time to update their mobile sites before it starts impacting users.