Mountain View appears to be fully committed to web user security. In 2016, Google has already launched various initiatives to penalize poor website security practices (or, on the other hand, to reward users who follow their recommendations). Now they’ve proposed to clearly mark websites that not only pose a threat to web users, but are also repeat offenders.

In fact, both in Chrome (the company’s own browser) and in other browsers such as Firefox and Safari, the search engine will show a warning in front of websites that intentionally spread malware, as well as those that are, in reality, used as instruments of phishing.

This is actually something that Google does already. What’s new is that the company will begin to take decisive action against those who repeatedly attempt to skip over safety rules. Once a website is marked as dangerous, the admin can update the page to eliminate the infractions in question, at which point Google takes down the warning. If the search engine finds itself routinely notifying the admin to inspect the warning, in some cases their chance to have the warning removed will be rescinded for 30 days.

Specifically, the option to resolve these issues will be eliminated for websites that, after requesting a reappraisal, make a few changes to get up to code and then subsequently go back to carrying out practices that put users in danger. To combat these repeat offenders that modify their websites just for show, Google will crack down on them by keeping the warning message up for an entire month, with no possibility of turning over the ruling during this time.

This news is actually somewhat of a double-edged sword for companies. On the one hand, it’s undoubtedly beneficial that employees can know at a glance whether they are about to enter a website that could jeopardize the company’s security. But as the saying goes, all that glitters is not gold.

Google’s new measure cranks up the pressure on companies to make sure their corporate website does not pose a risk to users. Otherwise, the penalization issued by the good people at Mountain View could prove a real disaster for the business — beyond putting users at risk, it may end up scaring away future clients.

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