Samsung introduces zero-click antivirus ‘Message Guard’

Samsung Message Guard takes the security one step further by "preemptively" protecting users' devices, by limiting exposure to invisible threats disguised as image attachments, the tech giant said in a blogpost on Friday.

San Francisco: Tech giant Samsung has introduced a new “Samsung Message Guard” security feature for its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, to better protect users against “zero-click exploits”.

Samsung Message Guard takes the security one step further by “preemptively” protecting users’ devices, by limiting exposure to invisible threats disguised as image attachments, the tech giant said in a blogpost on Friday.

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“Zero-click exploits are just the latest threat in an era of increased cybercrime targeting user data. One in three consumers around the world has been the victim of a data breach where their personal data was hacked.”

The company mentioned that data breaches are increasingly common, with rates more than tripling between 2013 and 2021.

The new Message Guard is an advanced “sandbox,” or a kind of virtual quarantine. When an image file arrives, it is trapped and isolated from the rest of the device.

As a result, malicious code is unable to access users’ phone’s files or engage with its operating system.

To make sure that the file cannot infect the rest of the device, Message Guard examines it bit by bit and analyses it in a controlled environment.

“Samsung Message Guard automatically neutralises any potential threat hiding in image files before they have a chance to do you any harm,” the company said.

“Samsung Message Guard is a solution on the Samsung Galaxy S23 series. It will be gradually rolled out to other Galaxy smartphones and tablets later this year,” it added.