Deletion of browser history must be disabled.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-221586 | SRG-APP-000089 | DTBC-0052 | SV-221586r960879_rule | 2025-05-15 | 2 |
Description
Disabling this function will prevent users from deleting their browsing history, which could be used to identify malicious websites and files that could later be used for anti-virus and Intrusion Detection System (IDS) signatures. Furthermore, preventing users from deleting browsing history could be used to identify abusive web surfing on government systems.
ℹ️ Check
Universal method:
1. In the omnibox (address bar) type chrome://policy
2. If the policy "AllowDeletingBrowserHistory" is not shown or is not set to false, this is a finding.
Windows method:
1. Start regedit
2. Navigate to HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\
3. If the "AllowDeletingBrowserHistory" value name does not exist or its value data is not set to "0", this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Windows group policy:
1. Open the group policy editor tool with gpedit.msc
2. Navigate to Policy Path: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Google\Google Chrome\
Policy Name: Enable deleting browser and download history
Policy State: Disabled
Policy Value: N/A