Advice Request Chrome Hardening Guide?

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

averagedarren

Level 1
Thread author
Jul 31, 2019
23
Hi,

I recently switched to Chrome from Firefox, as Firefox seemed to become slower and less responsive on my system. The reason I enjoyed Firefox so much in the first place was the many guides to harden its security and privacy. I know Chrome is 'always watching' and 'recording your every move/keystroke' but was hoping someone could point me in the direction of a Chrome Hardening Guide or just any tips or help to make it more private and secure. I know I could use a different build i.e Brave, Opera etc but there is just something about the other Chrome based browsers that doesn't sit right?

Thanks.
 

oldschool

Level 81
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Well-known
Mar 29, 2018
7,044
chrome://flags

Enable these for starters. These are my Edge Chromium flags which should be available in Chrome. Add µBO in medium mode + Privacy Possum + Cookie Auto Delete and you have a fairly simple setup that works pretty well, at least for me.

Anonymize local IPs exposed by WebRTC
Reduce default 'referer ' header granularity
Block scripts loaded via document.write
Enable AppContainer Lockdown.
TLS 1.3 downgrade hardening
Enable GPU AppContainer Lockdown.
PDF Isolation
Block unsafe downloads over insecure connections

But ....

No matter what you do privacy wise you're never gonna achieve what you can with Firefox.

... is probably correct. The best thing about it are the Temporary Containers, which in my mind is the foundation of any privacy/security setup in FF.
 

oldschool

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Mar 29, 2018
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I know I could use a different build i.e Brave, Opera etc but there is just something about the other Chrome based browsers that doesn't sit right?

BTW, if you haven't tried Edge Dev or Brave you may want to check them out. Then you can compare for yourself. They're both very nice browsers and can be made as secure as Chrome without the prying eyes. Plus, Edge has Smartscreen. Some on this forum and elsewhere consider Edge better than Chrome now, and its still being developed so it's only going to get better. (y)
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
BTW, if you haven't tried Edge Dev or Brave you may want to check them out. Then you can compare for yourself. They're both very nice browsers and can be made as secure as Chrome without the prying eyes. Plus, Edge has Smartscreen. Some on this forum and elsewhere consider Edge better than Chrome now, and its still being developed so it's only going to get better. (y)
I agree with this one. Some of my Chrome user friends have already permanently switched to Edge Chromium and they only have good things to say about it.
 

averagedarren

Level 1
Thread author
Jul 31, 2019
23
Hi,

Thanks for all the informative replies. I have tried Brave a few times but there is just something I don't like about it. I think it's mainly the UI and colours that put me off (as stupid as it sounds). I tried Edge a while back when it first released and enjoyed it, but it seemed slower than Chrome. But judging my the recommendations and information provided by yourselves I think I'll give it another go.

Thanks again for all the help.
 

Andy Ful

From Hard_Configurator Tools
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Developer
Well-known
Dec 23, 2014
8,040
chrome://flags

Enable these for starters. These are my Edge Chromium flags which should be available in Chrome. Add µBO in medium mode + Privacy Possum + Cookie Auto Delete and you have a fairly simple setup that works pretty well, at least for me.

Anonymize local IPs exposed by WebRTC
Reduce default 'referer ' header granularity
Block scripts loaded via document.write
Enable AppContainer Lockdown.
TLS 1.3 downgrade hardening
Enable GPU AppContainer Lockdown.
PDF Isolation
Block unsafe downloads over insecure connections
...
After enabling "Block unsafe downloads over insecure connections", adding many extensions from Microsoft Store will be blocked on the current Edge Chromium (for example uBlock Origin).(y)
It seems that it is OK for adding extensions from Chrome Web Store (tested on Edge Canary).

Edit
Anyway, it is a good hardening if one remembers the consequences.
 
Last edited:

Moonhorse

Level 37
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May 29, 2018
2,602
I would prefer edge chromium over google chrome
> sync between mobile, because google chrome on android still has no adblocking feature, and edge do have ( yet adblock plus sucks)

> edge will survive even google will approve their manifest as it is now

> edge has better privacy / performance / security
- built in tracking protection like in firefox
- 4k netflix
- advanced safe download protection ( google will have this for enterprises only)

Yet canary is already on chromium 78 and google chrome stable at 76, its obvious 78 has some improvements available

I use myself basilisk on daily browsing over firefox, because its not as bloated as firefox and has much more privacy, yet its not that good on media rich sites wich i use edge chromium for

Ublock origin is all you need, i just use bitwarden as password manager thought
 

oldschool

Level 81
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Mar 29, 2018
7,044

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