A new layer of anti-phishing security in Kaspersky for Android

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The Kaspersky for Android app can now detect malicious links in notifications from any app.
 
Phishing links are no longer a rare sight. They’re increasingly common in messaging apps, and often come seemingly from people you know well, who, of course, are completely unaware. Scammers hijack accounts and cleverly impersonate friends and family — abusing trust to get closer to your wallet or your secrets.

To help you fight off this growing wave of threats, we’ve added some new features to Kaspersky for Android. In this post, we explain the new layer of defense against phishing and malicious links brought to you in the latest Kaspersky for Android update.

Phishing links and where to find them

By default, we consider any link designed to deceive to be a phishing link. These links often lead to fraudulent websites that mimic legitimate ones using typosquatting and other tricks. For example, this link — https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/, seemingly to our blog, will redirect you to our Telegram channel instead. This is a safe example, but scammers aren’t so harmless.

You can encounter phishing links just about anywhere: in emails, text messages, but especially in messaging apps. A common scam we’ve covered involves attackers using hacked accounts of friends and family to send fake gift subscriptions for apps like Telegram. But instead of a free Premium subscription, victims end up with their personal account hijacked.

Phishing scams can also lurk in job offers, Google Forms surveys, or crypto giveaways. Sometimes you don’t even have to do anything on a phishing site to get infected. This is called a zero-click attack. The victim doesn’t need to fill out any forms, click on buttons, or submit anything. All that’s required is to follow a link to the malicious page that exploits a vulnerability. Once you reach that page, your device is compromised.

Phishers have a plethora of ways to reach their victims. It’s often difficult to spot a fake URL with the naked eye — one mistake can get you trapped. That’s where an automated solution comes in handy, recognizing and neutralizing the suspicious link.

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