Phishing scams are on the rise, with millions of people falling victim to these online scams every year. In fact, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, phishing scams accounted for more than half of all reported cybercrime incidents in 2020. This shows just how widespread and successful these attacks can be.

But what is phishing and how can you protect yourself from these scams?

Phishing is a type of online scam that involves tricking individuals into giving out personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers, by posing as a legitimate company or individual. These scams often take the form of fake emails, websites, and text messages that appear to be from a legitimate source, but are actually designed to steal your information.

One of the reasons why phishing attacks are so common is because they are relatively easy to carry out. Scammers only need to create a fake email or website and send it out to a large number of people in order to potentially trick some of them into giving out their personal information. Additionally, these scams can be difficult to spot, as the fake emails and websites often look legitimate.

That's why it's important to have anti-phishing software on your device. This software can help to identify and block fake emails and websites, making it much harder for scammers to trick you into giving out your personal information. Additionally, many anti-phishing programs are often part of programs or secure browsers that offer wider security features, such as antivirus protection – this can help to keep your information safe even if you do accidentally end up on a fake website.

At Avast, we are proud to announce that we have scored a 96% on AV-Comparatives' most recent anti-phishing test, which was commissioned by Avast. AV-Comparatives is an independent company that does systematic testing on security software. They create real-world situations in order to perform their tests. For this particular simulation, they tested the browser extensions of 10 different antivirus products while using Google Chrome with Google Safe Browsing disabled. The tests took place between November 11-24, 2022.

For their anti-phishing test set, they used 253 valid phishing URLs and 250 clean URLs for false alarm detection. Out of the 10 products tested, Avast Free Antivirus scored a 96% block rate and Avast One Essential scored 95%. The third runner up was Avira Free Security, which scored a 91% block rate. 

When they tested five leading browsers, Avast again came out on top with Avast Secure Browser scoring a 95% block rate. This was followed by Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge, which scored 77% and 74% block rates, respectively.

Phishing attacks are on the rise and can be difficult to spot. Protect yourself with anti-phishing software and keep your personal information safe. This independent test shows that our anti-phishing software is highly effective at identifying and blocking fake emails and websites, and protecting you from these scams. With Avast, you can protect yourself and your personal information from these dangerous scams.