Google is preparing a new Chrome security feature that would block policy-installed extensions from hijacking the New Tab page or changing the default search engine.
BleepingComputer spotted the protection in a chain of work-in-progress Chromium Gerrit changes. It has not shipped yet, but Google plans to enable it by default once the changes are approved.
"In low-trust environments (unmanaged consumer devices), enterprise policy force-installs and recommendations are abused to lock in search engine or new tab page hijackers," Anunoy Ghosh, who works at Google, wrote in a post.
"This CL enables the kBlockDseNtpOverrideExtensionsOnUnmanagedDevices feature flag by default, activating the end-to-end blocking defense on unmanaged Windows and macOS devices."
Right now, Chrome allows organizations to use enterprise policies to force-install extensions and control browser settings.
