Chrome adds "suspicious site" warning and protection against ClickFix attacks

Google is expanding Chrome's defences against phishing and other online scams. As the Polish tech site Antyweb reported on 22 October 2026, the new mechanisms will be part of Enhanced Protection, the extended protection level within Safe Browsing.

A "suspicious site" warning

Until now, Chrome blocked a page only when it was listed in the registers of dangerous sites. Users then saw a full-screen red warning.

The new feature is a separate "suspicious site" message. It will appear when a site has not yet been confirmed as harmful, but there are signs it may be trying to deceive users. According to Antyweb, this applies to pages that look suspicious but do not qualify for a full alert. An additional warning button is also described.

When assessing a page, the system is said to take into account:

• the brand the page claims to represent,
• the page's intent,
• the likelihood that it is a scam.

Safe Browsing combines this with the domain's reputation and other security indicators. Chrome is also meant to limit the amount of data sent to the server. The page text is analysed only when strong signs of fraud appear.

Detecting ClickFix attacks

The second change concerns ClickFix attacks. In these, a scammer persuades the user to copy and run a malicious command in PowerShell or Command Prompt themselves.

Chrome is to recognise such a script and remove it from the clipboard. It then passes it to Safe Browsing for analysis. If it turns out to be dangerous, the browser will show a warning before the user has a chance to run the command.

The source notes that the number of fake adverts, counterfeit websites and data-harvesting forms keeps growing. Sometimes swapping the letter "o" for a zero in an address is enough to make a domain hard to tell apart from the real one.

What this means for you

Chrome is a widely used browser, so the changes may affect people in the UK too. However, the source gives no rollout dates, Chrome version numbers or regions where the features will be available. It is also unclear whether the suspicious-site warning will work without Enhanced Protection switched on. The mechanism is described in the context of that feature, which can be enabled manually in Chrome's settings. The warnings are no substitute for caution: before entering login or banking details, it is worth checking the page address.