SmartScreen Filter Improvements in Microsoft Edge and IE 11
One of the common attack methods in recent times has been so-called “drive-by downloads” which does not require any user interaction. For instance, when you visit a popular website, a download can be initiated in the background without you even knowing. Many of these drive-by attacks are now beginning to leverage zero-day attacks keeping one step ahead of traditional security technologies such as Anti-virus and Anti-spyware. An interesting aspect of zero-day attacks is how much they leverage these security technologies to their advantage by looking for newly discovered vulnerabilities. This is even worse for users who haven’t installed security utilities or keep them updated. Microsoft is stepping up its game using a collection of critical data sources such as the Bing search engine, Windows Defender, and Internet Explorer. Telemetry data gathered from other teams within the company has also helped in the fight against these emerging trends by detecting behavioural changes in widely used technologies such as Windows. User experience is also part of the effort in helping to fight against these new types of security threats. One approach is user awareness, and this is where the improvements to SmartScreen Filter in Microsoft Edge begins. With these new advances, SmartScreen can effectively detect and warn users when it finds a website or a website containing elements such as web ads that might contain malicious code. If SmartScreen determines that a website is potentially malicious, you’ll see a red warning and the content won’t render in either Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10.
Certainly these are welcome improvements that demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment to protecting and inform users while providing an enjoyable web experience. Microsoft has not limited these updates just to Microsoft Edge either. Those of you who are still loyal to Internet Explorer reap the benefits, too. Comment
Δ
