We reported the issue privately to Adobe ( CVE-2015-0313) and a patch was developed and shipped. As we dug into the data, we discovered the attack was actually leveraging a new 0-day exploit in Adobe Flash player, meaning that SmartScreen intelligence systems were detecting this attack even before it was identified as a new 0-day exploit. The threat, broadly referred to as the HanJuan EK, was detected by SmartScreen’s exploit intelligence systems. Last December, as part of the development of this new SmartScreen capability, multiple Microsoft data sources including Defender and EMET picked up a new set of exploit attacks targeting millions of users through a network of malicious ads displayed on popular sites. To illustrate how this works, let’s look at a specific case study. Over the past year, we’ve seen EKs moving faster to target vulnerabilities in apps with available patches, while also exploiting 0-day vulnerabilities more frequently as well. The vulnerabilities can be either newly discovered ones – also known as 0-days – or ones that have already been fixed in popular software. These are tools that first check your PC for software vulnerabilities (tracked publicly as CVEs) and then try to exploit them. What’s more, they often don’t require any user interaction – so there’s nothing to click, nothing to download – and infection is usually invisible.ĭrive-by attacks make use of services known as exploit kits (EKs) to scale effectively. What is a drive-by attack?ĭrive-by attacks are malicious web attacks that tend to start on trusted websites, targeting security vulnerabilities in commonly used software. 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.

Over time, SmartScreen has expanded its scope from phishing attacks and socially engineered malware to also include warnings for deceptive advertisements and support scam sites. With URL reputation checks and Application Reputation protection, SmartScreen has protected users from billions of web-based attacks in the last 8 years.

Microsoft SmartScreen, integrated with Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and the Windows operating system, has helped protect users from socially engineered attacks such as phishing and malware downloads since its initial release in Internet Explorer 7.

Edge smartscreen