Google Chrome to combat tech support scams with AI in real-time

Even if you’ve never fallen victim to a tech support scam, you’ve likely been targeted. Have you ever gotten a pop-up, or a cascading series of pop-ups that crowd your entire screen, warning you that your device has been compromised and urging you to call tech support ASAP? If the unlucky victims who fall for these tricks give the scammers access to their computer, the perpetrators can plant malware, steal personal information, or even wipe out victims’ bank accounts.

Google’s AI Fight Against Tech Support Scams

Now, Google wants to use AI to stop these scams in real time for Google Chrome users. Chrome has always worked with Google Safe Browsing to help keep you safe online. Now, with this week’s launch of Chrome 137, Chrome will offer an additional layer of protection using the on-device Gemini Nano large language model. This new feature will leverage the LLM to generate signals that will be used by Safe Browsing in order to deliver higher confidence verdicts about potentially dangerous sites like tech support scams.

Google’s Approach to Detecting Scams

According to Google’s blog post, research shows that LLMs are particularly capable of detecting, understanding, and fighting tech support scams — before you even have to face them. By using LLMs on-device, Google doesn’t have to wait for users to report the scams and can instead “see threats when users see them.” Chrome will evaluate pages using Gemini Nano LLM to see if the page has “triggers that are characteristic of tech support scams” like, for instance, “the use of the keyboard lock API.” Then, Chrome sends information about the page to Safe Browsing, which will determine if the page is a scam or not. If it is a scam, Chrome will show a warning.

Cybercriminals Getting Creative

Cybercriminals are getting more and more creative every day, thanks in part to new AI tools. Now, tech companies are using their own AI systems to combat the onslaught of scams.

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