Google does its best to warn users of sites that have been recently flagged for either knowingly or unknowingly distributing malware, as users who have ever stumbled across Chrome’s bright red warning screen know all too well. Now, the search giant says that it will be even tougher on the sites that have suffered from this problem more than once.

According to Google, it will soon label “repeat offenders” that are believed to have been infected with malware on multiple occasions. In a recent blog post, Brooke Heinichen, a strategist on Google’s Safe Browsing Team, explained that some sites would solve their malware problem, but only long enough to be removed from Google’s blacklist.

“As a result of this gap in user protection, we have adjusted our policies to reduce risks borne by end-users,” Heinichen said.

Going forward, the sites that have distributed malware multiple times will be clearly flagged in Chrome’s warning system, but it looks like this new policy will only affect sites that are intentionally spreading malware, not those that simply have bad security policies. According to Heinichen, sites that have been hacked will not get the repeat offender warning no matter how many times they have been infected.

“With regards to Safe Browsing-related policies, Repeat Offenders are websites that repeatedly switch between compliant and policy-violating behavior for the purpose of having a successful review and having warnings removed,” Heinichen explained. “Please note that websites that are hacked will not be classified as Repeat Offenders; only sites that purposefully post harmful content will be subject to the policy.”

While it is good that end users will receive an additional warning about sites that have been known to distribute malware on more than one occasion, the real teeth to Google’s new policy is the fact that owners of these sites will be unable to request additional reviews via the Search Console for a full 30 days. This means that even if the malware is removed, users will still see Google’s warning when visiting the site for a full month.

Photo by Chingster23