How to make your Chromebook more secure to use
Chromebooks are difficult computers to crack. By default, Google protects you with a set of important safeguards — like automatically quarantining infected apps or websites — that can withstand some of the deadliest threats. But attackers come up with new methods to hack you every other day, and sometimes even Google can’t keep up with their pace. Luckily, you can easily boost your Chromebook’s defenses in just a few steps.
As with any traditional computer, you can opt for several optional features and install third-party tools to increase the security of your Chromebook. You can control how much access your apps and extensions have, secure and even deploy your connections with extra layers antivirus software. Here’s how to make yours Chrome book even safer and more private.
Backup your Google account
Your Google Account is the key to your Chromebook. Leaving its access in the hands of malicious actors can put your entire organization at risk ChromeOS Device. So the first step to securing your Chromebook is to make sure this never happens.
Go to Google My Account Dashboard in your browser and go to the “Security” section. Set up two-factor authentication if you haven’t already Update your password if you haven’t in a while. While you’re here, navigate to “Third-party apps with account access” and check which services are associated with your Google account. Remove the ones you no longer trust or use.
Switch to a private DNS
All of your activity on the web goes through a module called DNS, which acts as the Internet’s phone book. It converts URLs like “Laptopmag.com” into human-readable language and helps your Chromebook find where the website you’re looking at is stored. It’s also a weak link in your privacy, as ISPs in general tend to skimp on security protection and quality.
The best way to prevent someone from spying on your online activities is to switch to a more private DNS, which you can do with a few clicks on your Chromebook. Go to Settings > Security & Privacy and enable “Use Secure DNS”. Select “Cloudflare” from the “With” dropdown menu.
Lock your sleeping Chromebook
When you close your Chromebook’s lid or manually put it to sleep, it stays unlocked. While handy, it gives anyone the ability to wake up your Chromebook and abuse your session.
However, you can lock it down anytime if you prioritize security over convenience. Go to Settings > Security & privacy > Lock screen and sign in and enable the option “Lock when sleep or lid is closed”.
Update Google Chrome security
Unsurprisingly, ChromeOS users spend most of their time in the Chrome browser. So, of course, their safety is most at risk there. Luckily, Google offers a number of no-hassle tools that you can opt into for a safer browsing experience.
Visit Google Chrome > Settings > Privacy & security and go to “Advanced protection”. Enabling this will make Chrome more proactive in protecting you from potentially harmful websites, extensions, and downloads. To achieve this, Google sends some of your browsing data to its servers but says it anonymizes it and deletes it after a month.
You must also turn on the “Always use secure connections” setting on the “Privacy and security” page, which automatically encrypts all your communications with an online service, even if their website doesn’t have the highest standard of security.
Check permissions of apps and extensions
Rogue apps can hijack your Chromebook and even force you to pay a ransom to get it back. The only thing you can do to protect yourself from something like this ransomware attack is designed to ensure that you have only given critical permissions to the Android apps and websites that you trust.
Go to Settings > Apps > Google Play Store > Manage Android settings > Apps & notifications > App permissions. Here is a list of all available data permissions and which apps have access to them. You can revoke an app’s permission instantly by turning off the switch next to it.
For extensions, you need to launch Google Chrome and navigate to More tools > Extensions in the three-dot menu in the top-right corner. Unlike Android, Chrome doesn’t have a central permissions dashboard. You have to click on each extension to check what permissions they are allowed to use.
Install antivirus software
Chromebooks are generally pretty secure when they’re ready to go. However, as Google adds more features to them like Linux and Android apps, having extra layers of security has become important. This is especially important for protection against rogue Android apps, most of which contain viruses by stealth. As a result, many antivirus vendors have optimized their apps for Chromebooks so you can wipe out malware with one click.
Malwarebytes (opens in new tab) is one such antivirus program. Its Chromebook compatible app keeps an eye out for malicious apps and whether the apps you have installed contain hidden viruses or are secretly monitoring your activities. You can also quickly run a permissions check on your apps, so you don’t have to manually go through the list in Settings.