Google Chrome Version 92 Update Sniffs Out Phishy Websites Faster

The recently released version 92 of Google Chrome boasts numerous new features, quicker performance, and greater security. Included in the new security functionality is a dramatically faster and more energy-efficient means of detecting phishing websites, enabling users of the popular browser to more safely navigate an increasingly hazardous digital world.

When Chrome loads a new page, it immediately samples a collection of data points to evaluate its safety. By sampling the range and frequency of colors present on the page and comparing the color profile to those of known phishing sites, the browser is able to rapidly determine whether or not its user can safely browse or must be shielded from potential danger.

While highly effective, pixel-level image processing can often heavily tax computing hardware, slowing performance and draining device batteries. By improving how the calculation of the color value of each pixel occurs, developers have managed to reduce both how much counting actually happens as well as dramatically increasing the efficiency of the code that gets executed.

Thanks to the efforts of its intrepid developers, Chrome can now execute phishing classification up to 50 times faster, averaging results after 100 milliseconds vs the previous 1.8 seconds. That translates into not only increased power savings, but also more rapid protection of vital personal information from hackers and scammers.