The Redmond based tech giant said that though its SmartScreen system has been around for some time protecting users against phishing attacks and malware attacks. Now it has been updated to give users protection against drive-by zero-day attacks. “SmartScreen has protected users from billions of web-based attacks in the last eight years. Over time, SmartScreen has expanded its scope from phishing attacks and socially engineered malware to include warnings for deceptive advertisements and scam support sites,” said the firm in a blogpost. “Today, we’re happy to announce that with the latest Windows 10 updates, we’ve extended SmartScreen to include protection from drive-by attacks in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11.” Microsoft says that it has added extra protection to SmartScreen which will protect users against exploit kits. “Fortunately, Microsoft has cultivated a broad set of data from sources like Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Bing, Defender and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit to be able to see these attacks as they emerge, and to turn this information into the intelligence that powers SmartScreen drive-by protection in the browser,” explained the firm. “This cross-company data intelligence effort is unique since it brings together information not just about the browsing experience or web infrastructure, but about behavioural telemetry from across the Windows operating system. “This can help us to detect potential attacks in progress and detect emerging threats. With SmartScreen drive-by protection, these types of threats may be prevented before a user is infected, even if a patch isn’t yet available.”
