Combatting Google Chrome Virus or Spam Notifications

The Problem

For the past few weeks, Mason Infotech clients and other Google Chrome users have reported that Google Chrome notifications regarding spam or viruses have been appearing in the corner of their screens. These notifications typically tell the user that they have a virus and that they need to run a scan for viruses. Quite often, these alerts have mimicked the branding of well-known antivirus software regardless of whether or not the user has installed it on their device.

How to Resolve

What is actually happening in cases like these are that a website has hidden permissions (usually consented to within their cookies message) that allows the site to manage the user's Google Chrome settings. By doing so, the site is able to send notifications via Chrome.

To combat this, follow the below steps:

• to understand if the notification is coming from Google Chrome, look for the Google Chrome name and icon in the top left corner of the notification.
• Find the URL in the notification. The giveaway will be that the URL name won't match the brand the notification is claiming to be from.
• Write the URL down. It's important to write it down rather than try to copy it onto your clipboard.
• Open a new Google Chrome Window.
• Select the three dots in the upper right corner of Google Chrome.
• Follow this path:
  • Settings
  • Privacy and Security
  • Site Settings
  • View Permissions and Data Stored Across Sites

• Locate the URL of the site from the notification
• Block the notifications from that site by selecting the URL, navigating to Permissions, then Notifications, and selecting Block.