Chrome virus scanner coming

January 8, 2012 – 8:33 PM

Google has released a beta version of its Chrome 17 browser that scans for malicious downloads, which may help tackle scareware threats. The browser will issue a warning to discard a file when a user attempts to download a known bad file or if the file comes from a site known to host malware.  The new features build upon Google’s Safe Browsing system which warns if a site should not be trusted, but does not have a feature to detect malicious files from the web.  The blacklist used in the beta version is small but Google will be “ramping up coverage” in the coming months, engineer Dominic Hamon wrote in a blog post.  The new security feature comes after a Google sponsored study by security firm Accuvant found that Microsoft’s SmartScreen Filter and Google’s Safe Browsing detected under 15 percent of confirmed live malware URLs [pdf].

Source:
http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/286274,chrome-virus-scanner-coming.aspx