Google Chat (chat.google.com) is the default chat app owned by Google. It has replaced Google Hangouts as the place to chat with your friends. Google Chat can be used for free phone calls on Android and iOS. The desktop app is for chatting via text; however, you can video call by starting a Google Meeting. It’s not possible to assess traffic or dates founded for Google Chat because the site is part of a subdomain on the google.com site.

Is Google Chat Safe?

I analyzed Google Chat for malware and malicious content to check if it was legit or a scam. Here are the results:

I checked chat.google.com on Sucuri, and it returned as a low security risk. Results: Sucuri scan for the site chat.google.com.

Google Chat Sucuri results

Sucuri says chat.google.com is a low security risk; however, the scan returned with a 404 Not Found error on the sign-in page.

Security hardening flaws:

  • Missing security header for ClickJacking Protection. Affected pages:
    https://accounts.google.com/signin/v2/’ _.O(_.P(h).replace(/;/g,
    https://policies.google.com/privacy?gl=US&hl=en
    https://policies.google.com/terms?gl=US&hl=en
  • Missing Strict-Transport-Security security header. Affected pages:
    https://accounts.google.com/signin/v2/’ _.O(_.P(h).replace(/;/g,
    https://policies.google.com/privacy?gl=US&hl=en
    https://policies.google.com/terms?gl=US&hl=en
  • The ‘unsafe-eval’ keyword in Content-Security-Policy is not recommended. Affected pages:
    https://accounts.google.com/signup/v2/nojs?continue=https://chat.google.com/

I then ran a parasite scan with Unmask Parasites on chat.google.com, and it is suspicious. Results: Unmask Parasites scan for the site chat.google.com.

Unmask Parasites cites 3 suspicious inline scripts found:

//# sourceMappingURL=data:application/json;charset=utf-8;base64,eyJ2ZXJzaW9uIjogMywic291cmNlcyI6WyIiXSwic291cmNlc0NvbnRlb...

window.wiz_progress&&window.wiz_progress();window.wiz_tick&&window.wiz_tick('ZdRp7e');

(function(){/*
Copyright The Closure Library Authors.
SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
*/
'use strict';var a=function(...

I also checked chat.google.com on VirusTotal, and it is clean. Results: VirusTotal scan for the site chat.google.com.

Google Chat VirusTotal results

In conclusion, we didn’t find any malware during our scans of Google Chat and can confirm that the app is safe to use. OVERALL GRADE: Relatively Safe.

Links and Profiles

Website: chat.google.com

References

1. SimilarWeb – chat.google.com

2. Wayback Machine – chat.google.com

(Last Updated: 2/19/2024)