You’re probably familiar with Incognito mode on Google Chrome. It’s a great way to browse privately without leaving breadcrumbs all over your browser. But it seems like there was a surprising limitation to how it protects you from dangerous websites. While regular browsing benefits from Google’s real-time threat detection, private browsing doesn’t always get those same protections.
Fortunately, Google appears to be working on fixing that. According to Windows Report, a new Chromium development suggests Chrome could soon extend real-time Safe Browsing checks to both Incognito and Guest modes, potentially offering better protection against phishing websites, malware, and other online threats.
Incognito is getting a much-needed safety upgrade
Chrome’s existing Safe Browsing system checks websites against Google’s database of known threats, warning users before they visit potentially dangerous pages. Under the default Standard Protection setting, Chrome typically checks a locally stored list of known-safe websites before performing an online lookup through a privacy server. This allows it to identify recently discovered threats without waiting for a local database update.
However, Google’s support documentation explains that Incognito mode can fall back to checking a locally stored list of unsafe websites instead. Google previously explained that its locally stored threat lists were updated every 30 to 60 minutes, while many malicious websites existed for less than 10 minutes. So having access to fresher information could therefore make a difference. The proposed change would extend real-time checks to private browsing, with support reportedly covering both Standard and Enhanced Protection users.
But what about your privacy?
Naturally, allowing Chrome to perform additional online security checks during private browsing raises questions about what information gets shared with Google. The good news is that developers are apparently taking precautions. According to the Chromium development spotted by Windows Report, temporary security-key updates generated during Incognito sessions would remain in memory rather than being written to the device’s storage.
Google’s existing Standard Protection system also uses privacy servers to obscure users’ IP addresses during routine online checks. Enhanced Protection, meanwhile, shares more information with Google to provide additional security. It’s also worth remembering that Incognito mode doesn’t make users anonymous online.
Websites and network administrators can still potentially observe browsing activity, even when Chrome doesn’t save that activity to its local history. As of right now, the feature remains under development and is disabled by default behind an experimental Chrome flag. Though Google hasn’t announced a public release date or confirmed when the upgrade might reach stable builds.
