In 2017, Google announced the Advanced Protection Program (Advanced Protection Program or simply APP) for the security of the accounts of high-risk individuals such as journalists, business executives, activists and people involved in electoral processes.
While service is free to use, people who sign up for the program will need to pay a fee to get a security key.
In August 2019, Google announced that the Chrome APP would automatically scan for dangerous downloads, turn on alerts if needed, and block downloads of malicious software.
Today the company announced further improvements to this feature.
In one suspension In its blog, Google states that APP clients are already protected from phishing and that Chrome warns when downloading dangerous files. The company seems to be going a step further by allowing APP users to send dangerous files directly to Google to scan for potential threats.
The company will use the cloud-hosting Safe Browsing suite to detect malware to analyze any files uploaded by users to its service.
Google says:
When a user downloads a file, Safe Browsing will perform a quick check using metadata, such as file hashes, to assess whether it looks suspicious. Any downloads deemed unsafe by Safe Browsing will display a warning to the user and the ability to Missionof the file to be scanned. If the user chooses to send the file, Chrome will upload it to Google Safe Browsing, which will scan it using real-time static and dynamic analysis techniques. After a short wait, if Safe Browsing determines that the file is unsafe, Chrome will warn the user. As always, users can bypass the warning and open the file without scanning if they are sure the file is safe. Safe Browsing deletes files you upload shortly after scanning.
You can find more details about the program here.