Microsoft spearheads a new online security initiative by launching a potent weapon known as the “scareware blocker” against online scams. Leveraging machine learning and computer vision, this novel tool serves as a crucial line of defence against scams, especially pseudo-antivirus software.
It arrives as an appropriate intervention after two tech firms were forced to cough up a whopping $26 million in a settlement rule due to fraudulent marketing practices. Microsoft pulls no punches with its focus shifting towards protecting the users against undiscovered scam tools.
In preparation for this user-centric feature, Microsoft calls upon users to partake in the Edge browser preview program for testing purposes.
Scareware blocker, once activated, will provide a supplementary layer of security to the existing Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. It specifically intervenes when a scam tool attempts to go full-screen mode. Reportedly, Microsoft amassed thousands of real-world scam samples to fine-tune its machine learning model for the scareware blocker.
The tool, once deployed, carries out real-time comparison of new scams against the amassed database. On detecting a scareware, it ensures safe navigation by exiting full-screen mode, halting any suspicious audio playback, and providing an option to close or continue the page.
Addressing privacy concerns associated with the use of computer vision, Microsoft assures that the machine learning model operates locally on the user’s device without storing or transmitting any information to the cloud. To enhance the performance of the scareware blocker and the broader Defender SmartScreen software, Microsoft encourages early users to share feedback and report any misclassification of genuine websites as scams.
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
