Quick Heal eyes small firms, individuals with its AI-powered anti-fraud tool

In an exclusive intearaction with Mint, the Pune-based company’s top executives—Sanjay Katkar, joint managing director and Sneha Katkar, head of strategy—said that the software, introduced at ₹750 per installation, has seen a higher than expected uptake in the pre-launch days in the past month and the first couple of days of the launch last week, underscoring the need for such products in the market where defrauding people using digital arrest, malicious weblinks has become increasingly sophisticated and contextualised with miscreants having access to personal information of the targets.

“Fraudsters are not only using social engineering, but they are also taking advantage of technology, they are automating their attack selection, which calls for technological help in solving or fighting this kind of fraud,” Sanjay said, pointing to some-high profile instances of fraud, including one where textiles firm Vardhman Group’s chairman and managing director S.P. Oswal was duped of ₹ ₹7 crore when fraudsters impersonated Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and held a fake Supreme Court hearing via Skype.

The phenomenon is referred to as digital arrest, a highly contextualised scam where some kind of personal information of the victim is accessible to fraudsters. Consumers are also falling prey to phishing and other forms of scam via fake trading, banking and loan apps.

The software, once installed on a laptop, personal computer or mobile phone, evaluates the user’s risk profile. Using AI alerts on receiving a potentially fraudulent call, the tool protects from phishing link scams, alerts when a call may potentially lead to fraud, detects fake apps, QR (quick response) codes and alerts when an app is using microphone or camera when the device is not being used.

Sanjay said that the software adheres to regulations under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act which lays down rules ensuring user privacy and protection against digital harm. He added that Quick Heal has filed patents in India and the US for the technology.

Consumers continue to face spams

Preventing potential scam emerging from unsolicited calls and messages has become one of the key priorities of the ministry of communications and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

While Trai and the telecom department have cracked down on spamming, consumers continue to face spam calls and messages everyday. Telcos have blocked a large number of connections following mandates from the government. Last month, Airtel launched a tool inbuilt into its network which will alert customers in real time to all suspected spam calls and SMSes. The service will get auto-activated for all Airtel customers without requiring the user to download any app. The service is a potential rival to Sweden’s Truecaller smartphone application that identifies and blocks spam.

Scams from spams have now begun to originate from OTT apps such as WhatsApp.