While all scams are scary, “scareware” can be the worst of its kind, masquerading as a service to save you from a malware attack. To mitigate these types of scams, Microsoft has added a “scareware blocker” to its Edge browser, which harnesses the power of machine learning.
Microsoft Edge Now Has an AI-Powered Scareware Blocker
Microsoft has now rolled out its scareware blocker for the Edge browser, which leverages AI to intercept scareware attempts.Scareware is a type of scam that can manipulate your browser, producing a pop-up window that informs you that your system has been infiltrated. The scammer will pose as a tech support service, such as Windows Support, and instruct you to call them immediately. Ironically, it’s these phone calls that lead to the attackers being able to access and place malware onto your computer.
The promising quality of Microsoft’s new scareware blocker is that it allegedly notifies users quickly. This is imperative because these types of scams typically urge users to act fast, playing on your desperation to save your system from malware.
How Does Microsoft’s New Scareware Blocker Actually Work?
According to Microsoft, the scareware blocker complements Edge’s existing security feature, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, which protects users from malicious sites in general. The scareware blocker differs in that it uses AI to scan new web pages for classic signs of scareware, like entering full screen mode or computer-generated audio messages.
Here is howMicrosoft’s blog postdescribes the machine learning model’s functionality:
“The model uses computer vision to compare full screen pages to thousands of sample scams that the scam-fighting community shared with us. The model runs locally, without saving or sending images to the cloud.”
Scareware-type behavior will trigger a warning message from the blocker. How can you tell this warning message from a scareware pop-up? For one, a notification from Microsoft’s scareware blocker will not include a tech support phone number to call. It will only let you know that the site looks suspicious, and give you the option toClose pageorContinue.
You should only clickContinuewhen you know for certain that a site is safe.
How to Enable the Scareware Blocker on Microsoft Edge
Microsoft’s new scareware blocker is still in preview mode, but you’re able to enable the preview in your browser’s settings:
While it can be challenging to differentiate which security warnings are real and which are fake, a good rule of thumb is to use caution around phone numbers and links. Whenever a security notification includes a contact number, cross-check it with a cursory Google search. For example, if you’re instructed to contact Microsoft Support, make sure the number aligns with what’s listed on Microsoft’s official website. And if you’re not able to open another browser tab to do that search, then—that’s another tell-talesign of a fake website.
