Google Chrome to mitigate “tab-napping” by blocking redirects to open in a new tab or window.

Whenever we visit a website on the Google Chrome browser and click on a link, it either opens up in a new window or a new tab in the same browser window. This is a feature that is currently controlled by the website authors as per their choice. However, Google has found a known security issue in this attribute which lets newly opened pages utilize JavaScript to redirect you to a different URL. This is considered to be one of the more serious threats as it could take the users to a spam page or a page with malware on it. 

Due to this, Google has added a new security measure to Chrome, where website authors can already prevent new tabs from using JavaScript to redirect to a different URL by using the rel=” no opener” HTML link attribute. The same feature has already been featured in Apple’s Safari browser in 2018, which automatically implied the no opener attribute on HTML links. The same feature was also introduced in Chromium last week and can also be introduced in all Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Brave, etc. 

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The feature has already been enabled for Chrome users and will also be a part of Chrome 88, which is all set to launch in January next year. This new security measure comes just days after Google patched two zero-day vulnerabilities in Chrome. Google has recently been trying to find out more vulnerabilities in its online services to resolve them immediately and protect users’ data.

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