Feature Request: Handling and mitigating browser notification scams in F-Secure products
Dear F-Secure Product & Development Team,
I would like to submit a feature request regarding browser push notification scams (such as deceptive pop-ups impersonating McAfee or virus warnings originating from scam domains like merbiyt.co.in).
Because these alerts abuse standard web browser push notification permissions rather than executing malicious files on Windows, traditional real-time antivirus scans naturally do not flag or detect any infected files. However, for end users, these aggressive desktop alerts look completely identical to severe malware infections and cause significant confusion and distress.
Could F-Secure consider adding proactive features or options to address this attack vector? For example:
- Auditing browser notification permissions: Detecting and alerting users when known scam or low-reputation domains have gained desktop notification permissions in installed browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox).
- One-click remediation / cleanup: Allowing users to revoke unauthorized or risky site permissions directly from the F-Secure management interface or scan results.
- Enhanced browsing protection: Proactively warning users before they grant notification rights to newly registered or suspicious domains.
Adding dedicated handling for notification abuse would provide great value and help protect users from one of the most common social engineering tricks today.