Microsoft Launches Windows Defender Browser Protection Extension for Google's Chrome Browser

A long time after protecting users on its Edge browser, Microsoft has now brought Windows Defender Browser Protection to the Google Chrome browser in the form of an add-on. The new Chrome extension is available for free download via Chrome Web Store and is claimed to protect users against phishing and malware content. It also comes with a real-time indicator to notify users about potentially unsecured sites.

When it comes to user protection, Chrome already does a good job by automatically restricting access to sites malicious content. But Microsoft claims that its Windows Defender protection is far ahead of what you can get from Chrome. Specifically, Windows Defender Browser Protection on Microsoft Edge is touted to protect against 99 percent of phishing attacks, while Chrome offers 87 percent of protection and Mozilla's Firefox comes third with 70 percent of protection rate. These numbers are certainly aimed to persuade you to install Microsoft's extension on your Chrome browser.

But apart from merely the numbers, Microsoft's Windows Defender Browser Protection adds a security layer to Chrome to help protect you against online threats, such as links in phishing emails and websites, the company claims. The extension automatically checks links you click against a constantly updated list of malicious URLs, and if any of those links matches with one on the list, it shows a red warning screen.

It is worth noting here that while a large number of Chrome extensions work with Chrome OS devices, the Windows Defender Browser Protection extension is limited to Windows and Mac devices running the Chrome browser. Moreover, the extension apparently works in tandem with the default Chrome protection.