Chrome Saying It's 'Managed by Your Organization' May Indicate Malware

If your Google Chrome says that it is 'managed by your organization' this likely means your system policies are controlling some of the Chrome browser's settings. This may happen when you're using a PC, Mac or Chromebook that happens to be controlled by your organization, but there are applications that may also set policies as well.

How does that work in Google Chrome?

Management is an administrative feature that allows admins to control the browser settings of Google Chrome. If you happen to be using Google Chrome or a Chromebook laptop, your employer may set up many policies that control the way Chrome functions.

Examples of these can be seen when an organization makes it so that the homepage of a browser can't be changed, controlling what users can see by blacklisting certain websites, controlling what users can print and so forth. Oh Chromebook, this can be used to control policies regarding things such as which USB devices may be accessed, as well as even screen lock delay and more. Organizations may also force install Chrome Browser extensions through the use of policy control as well.

Chrome isn't the only application that may be managed in such a manner, as admins can also do the same thing with the Windows group policy. Even iPhones aren't immune to this kind of management either, as mobile device management software also works on them.

What if users don’t have an organization?

In some cases, this kind of message may be seen even if Chrome isn't managed by any organization at all. This is possible due to changes done in Chrome version 73. If a program on a computer has enterprise policies set up to affect and change the behavior of Google Chrome, then you will see this kind of message, even if there is no organization involved in this.

The message may also be caused due to legitimate software. There was something like that which occurred back on April 3, 2019. It is also entirely probable that malware on an infected system may be making changes in Chrome's settings, as some malware is capable of doing that. If Google is showing this message, then users can look into the settings that made this possible, such as any connected software or a potential malware infection.

How can users check whether Chrome is managed by someone else?

This can be done in several ways, one of which is in Chrome itself. Opening the Chrome menu, you can see a 'Chrome is managed by your organization' message right under the "Exit" button. The message appears in plain sight if the option is on and the browser is managed that way.

The message may also appear on Chrome's about page, which can be accessed in the main menu, choosing 'Help' and then 'About Google Chrome'. Users can see a 'Your Browser is managed by your organization' as a message if that is the case.

Another place you can find information regarding this is by typing 'chrome://management' into Chrome's address bar without the quotation marks. If the page that follows doesn't show that Chrome is managed by an administrator even if it says it is somewhere on Chrome's interface, it is likely that software managing is in effect via policy for one or all of the browser's settings.

How can users see which of their settings are managed by an organization?

To see which policies are applied to the Chrome browser, you can check the 'chrome://policy' page by using the address box in the browser itself. This will show the policies set by software on the system itself, as well as the ones set by the organization. You can click on the name of each of those policies to view any of its details on Google's website as well. If there is a 'No policies set' message on there, it means that your Chrome browser is free of any policies that manage your system.

Although some people in the Chrome community recommend downloading a so-called 'Chrome Policy Remover' to get rid of these policies, using it isn't recommended, as it may cause more problems than it allegedly solves.