As part of the ongoing story, to help protect against these scams, Microsoft Edge includes a scareware blocker, although it may need to be enabled first. Scareware websites are designed to frighten people into taking actions they wouldn’t otherwise take, like installing malicious programs or calling fake technical support.
Industry observers note that often, loud alarm sounds play or simulated system messages appear. Typical examples of scareware include pages that suddenly open in full-screen mode, display false virus warnings, or claim your computer has dangerous security vulnerabilities.
In a fresh development, edge’s scareware blocker uses AI to identify these fake websites and warn users before they interact with them. The goal behind scareware is to trick users into downloading protective programs (which is actually malware) or granting remote access to their computer to someone posing as a technical support expert.
The report highlights that however, the addresses of websites identified as scareware are sent to Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, which warns users when they attempt to visit a dangerous website. This analysis is performed locally, so no screenshots or other images from your computer are transmitted to Microsoft.
The report highlights that you can find it in Edge by clicking the gear icon in the bottom right corner and navigating to Privacy, Search, & Services > Security. The switch next to Scareware Blocker allows you to enable or disable the capability. On most Windows PCs, the scareware blocker is enabled by default.
In a fresh development, the Share Detected Fraudulent Websites with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen option sends the addresses of detected scareware sites to Microsoft. Block Websites Detected as Fraudulent determines whether known fraudulent websites are blocked.
Industry observers note that on all other PCs, the scareware blocker must first be enabled. It’s not available on PCs with less than 1GB of RAM or a single-core processor. The capability is active on all computers with more than 2GB of RAM and a processor with at least five cores.
In a fresh development, this article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
In a fresh development, roland Freist is a freelance IT journalist covering topics related to Windows, applications, networks, security and the Internet.