MWC 2014: Kaspersky Launches Phishing-Resistant Browser For Windows Phone

Russian cybersecurity specialist Kaspersky Labs has launched Safe Browser for Windows Phone – an alternative to Internet Explorer that protects against phishing attacks by automatically blocking dangerous links.

The browser was launched at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, and is already available on Windows Phone Store as a free download. It follows the release of Safe Browser for iOS in October 2013 and the all-around Kaspersky Internet Security for Android in January 2014.

“Smartphones are becoming an essential part of modern life and the web browser is one of the most popular features,” said Victor Yablokov, head of Mobile Product Line at Kaspersky Lab. “However, even the most tech-savvy web user may sometimes struggle to distinguish fake sites from the real thing. Now, Kaspersky Safe Browser for Windows Phone is here to help, providing automatic protection against fraudulent and inappropriate sites.”

Gone phishin’

Phishing is a social engineering technique that sees cybercriminals attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by pretending to be a trustworthy entity online. According to a recent survey by Kaspersky and B2B International conducted across 19 countries, over the past year one in three Internet users received messages with phishing links.

To help remedy the situation, Kaspersky has developed the ‘Safe Browser’ – an alternative browser which prevents access to content that might be harmful. Despite its simplified design, several user reviews rate it higher than Microsoft’s native app.

The application receives information about malicious sites in real-time from the Kaspersky Security Network database, and is able to block even those phishing pages that have just appeared online.

In addition to blocking phishing links, users can choose to filter out pornographic content, pages containing obscene words or scenes of violence, gaming sites and social networking sites. The software can be used together with Kid’s Corner functionality on Windows Phone, transforming it into a tool to keep kids away from the dangers of the Internet.

This is not the first product Kaspersky launched at MWC 2014. On Wednesday, the company unveiled the all-new Fraud Prevention platform, consisting of several tools and aimed at banks, financial organisations and companies in the e-commerce sector.

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