Microsoft Edge incorporates an AI-powered scareware blocker.
The scareware blocker is currently in the testing phase.
Microsoft has begun rolling out a new scareware blocker in its Edge browser this week. This AI-powered feature is designed to work on Windows computers and has the capability to identify and block existing scams, as well as detect new and emerging ones through a machine learning model that operates locally.
The Microsoft Edge team has explained that the scareware blocker acts as a first line of defense, protecting users from scams that attempt to open a full-screen page. This model uses computer vision to compare full-screen pages with thousands of scam examples provided by the community dedicated to combating such fraud. All of this is done on the user's computer, without the need to send images to the cloud.
When a scam is identified, Microsoft Edge will automatically exit the full-screen mode imposed by malicious sites, stop audio playback, and display a warning along with a preview of the page that was being viewed. Users also have the option to report the page to be added to Microsoft’s Defender SmartScreen service, which automatically blocks Edge users trying to access known scam sites.
This scareware blocker was initially announced during the Ignite event in November and is now available in preview with the latest stable version of the browser. To activate this feature, users must manually enable the blocker in Edge's privacy settings and restart the browser to access the preview feature.
