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The Scam Blocker tool built into DuckDuckGo browser has been updated to protect against online scams. Now detects fake e-commerce sites, cryptocurrency exchanges, and scareware. DuckDuckGo browser, which is entering public beta for macOS and Windows, blocks all trackers by default, does not perform personalized search profiling, and offers users various tools to maintain anonymity.
The Scam Blocker component is part of the privacy toolkit and has been present since the browser’s launch in 2018. This mechanism protects users from accessing known malware-containing sites and phishing URLs. In the latest update, in addition to blocking phishing sites and malware, Scam Blocker has “learned” to detect and block:
The developers explain that when you try to load a page, the tool locally checks URLs against a constantly updated (every 20 minutes) list of threats provided by the security company Netcraf.
In addition, rare and unknown threats are checked on DuckDuckGo’s servers using a special “anonymized cryptographic process” to ensure that users’ privacy is not compromised. If fraud is detected, the user is sent a warning to leave the site, but it is possible to ignore the warning and still visit a potentially dangerous resource.
DuckDuckGo points out that unlike Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, which rely on Google Safe Browsing and therefore share data with Google, Scam Blocker offers privacy-focused protection and does not share data with others.
Scam Blocker is enabled by default and does not require an account. Additionally, Privacy Pro subscribers will benefit from the tool working in all web apps (including other browsers) and on any device when DuckDuckGo VPN is enabled.
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