{"id":175830,"date":"2023-10-31T07:09:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T14:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/?p=175830"},"modified":"2024-07-31T11:24:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T18:24:35","slug":"advances-in-our-use-of-ai-keep-you-even-safer-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/advances-in-our-use-of-ai-keep-you-even-safer-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Advances in Our Use of AI Keep You Even Safer Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI is on your side. In fact, it\u2019s kept you safer online for some time now.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that scammers and hackers have gotten their hands on AI tools, they understandably get their share of headlines. Rightfully so. AI tools have helped them scale up their attacks while also making them look and feel increasingly sophisticated.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at McAfee, we\u2019ve used AI as a core component of our protection for years now. As such, it\u2019s done plenty for you over the years. AI has sniffed out viruses, malicious websites, and sketchy content online. It\u2019s helped steer you clear of malicious websites too.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we\u2019ve made improvements to our AI-driven protection\u2014and unveiled an all-new feature that takes full advantage of AI, Text Scam Detector<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AI is indeed on your side. A quick tour will show you how.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How AI keeps you safe: The plain language version.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

AI-driven protection quashes threats in three ways:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. It detects threats by referencing models of existing threats.<\/span><\/b> This combats pre-existing threats and entirely new (zero-day) threats alike. AI can spot varieties of different threats by comparing them to features it\u2019s seen before. For example, it\u2019s like AI learning to identify different varieties of fruit. An apple is still an apple whether it\u2019s a Fuji or Granny Smith. In that way, a virus is still a virus if it\u2019s \u201cVirus A\u201d or the newly discovered \u201cVirus Z.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. It further detects suspicious events and behaviors.<\/span><\/b> AI provides a particularly powerful tool against zero-day threats. It analyzes the activities of applications for patterns that are consistent with malicious behavior. With that it can spot and prevent a previously unknown file or process from doing harm. In its way, AI says, \u201cI\u2019ve seen this sketchy behavior before. I\u2019m going to flag it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      1. It automatically classifies threats and adds them to its body of knowledge. <\/span><\/b>AI-driven threat protection gets stronger over time. Because it learns. Something we call \u201cthreat intelligence.\u201d The more threats it encounters, the more rapidly and readily it can determine if files want to do you no good. The body of threat intelligence improves immensely as a result.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        So, what does AI-driven protection look like in the real world?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        AI can identify malicious websites and links before you can connect to them. It can prevent new forms of ransomware from encrypting your photos and files. And it can let you know when the link you got in that text is a total fake.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        In combination with our security engineers and teams, AI really on your side.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        AI leads to powerful new protections.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

        As part of our product launch a few weeks ago, we created advances in one or our AI-driven protections and released an entirely new AI-driven protection as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        McAfee Next-gen Threat Protection:<\/span><\/b> McAfee\u2019s AI-powered security just got faster and stronger. Our Next-gen Threat Protection takes up less disk space, reduces its background processes by 75%, and scans 3x faster than before. This makes your time online safer without slowing down your browsing, shopping, streaming, and gaming. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        As for strength, it offers 100% protection against zero-day threats and 100% against threats released in the past month (<\/span>AV-TEST results, June 2023<\/span><\/a>). You\u2019ll find it across all our products that have antivirus included.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Text Scam Detector<\/a>:<\/span><\/b> McAfee\u2019s patented and powerful AI technology helps you stay safer amidst the rise in phishing scams. Including phishing scams generated by AI. It detects suspicious URLs in texts before they\u2019re opened or clicked on. No more guessing if that text you just got is real or fake.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        And if you accidentally click on a suspicious link in a text, email, social media, or browser search, it blocks the scam site from loading. You\u2019ll find Text Scam Detector<\/a>\u00a0across our <\/span>McAfee+ plans<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Above and beyond AI, more protections for your privacy and identity.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

        In addition to AI-driven improvements, we also released several new features. Together they help you protect your privacy, lock down your identity, and set up your McAfee software for the best security.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n