About protection of financial transactions and online purchases
2 July 2024
ID 110417
To protect confidential data that you enter on websites of banks and payment systems (such as bank card numbers and passwords for online banking), as well as to prevent funds from being stolen when you make online payments, Kaspersky Small Office Security prompts you to open such websites in Protected Browser. If you select the option to open the website without Protected Browser, Kaspersky Small Office Security does not prompt you to open that website in Protected Browser for the next 50 minutes.
Protected Browser is a special browser operating mode designed to protect your data as you access bank or payment system websites. Protected Browser is started in an isolated environment to prevent other applications from injecting their code into the process of Protected Browser. Kaspersky Small Office Security creates special profiles for the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers to prevent third-party add-ons from affecting the operation of Protected Browser. The application does not affect your data that the browsers may save in the profiles created for them.
When you first open the Protected Browser, you will be prompted to copy data, settings, and plug-ins from your main browser. After completing the data migration, Kaspersky Small Office Security will not keep your main browser and Protected Browser synchronized. This means, for example, that data deleted from your main browser will persist in Protected Browser. In this case, you must take steps to delete the same data from Protected Browser.
If you are using Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Internet Explorer, Protected Browser is opened in a new window.
The application uses the Kaspersky Protection extension to provide a number of Protected Browser functions.
Browsers that do not meet the software requirements cannot operate in Protected Browser mode. Instead of such browsers, either Chromium-based Microsoft Edge or another browser configured in application settings starts in Protected Browser mode.
It is impossible to run Protected Browser under the following conditions:
- The Enable Self-Defense check box is cleared in the Self-Defense settings window, Security settings → Self-Defense section.
- JavaScript is disabled in the browser.
Running Protected Browser in Yandex Browser
Kaspersky Small Office Security supports securing your financial transactions in Yandex Browser with some limitations. To run Protected Browser, the application injects a special script into the web page (and traffic). The Kaspersky Protection extension is not available. The Private Browsing and Anti-Banner components operate but cannot be configured in Yandex Browser.
Protected Browser capabilities
In Protected Browser mode, the application provides protection against the following types of threats:
- Untrusted modules. The application runs a check for untrusted modules every time you visit a bank or payment system website.
- Rootkits. The application scans for rootkits at Protected Browser startup.
- Invalid certificates of bank or payment system websites. The application checks certificates when you visit a bank or payment system website. The check is performed against a database of compromised certificates.
Protected Browser status
When you open a website in Protected Browser, a frame appears on the borders of the browser window. The color of the frame indicates the protection status.
The frame of the browser window can display the following color indications:
- Green frame. Signifies that all checks have been performed successfully. You can continue using Protected Browser.
- Yellow frame. Signifies that checks have revealed security problems that need to be resolved or some protection components are turned off.
The application can detect the following threats and security problems:
- Untrusted module. Computer scanning and disinfection is required.
- Rootkit. Computer scanning and disinfection is required.
- Invalid certificate of a bank or payment system website.
- Self-Defense is turned off.
If you do not eliminate the threats detected, the security of the bank or payment system website connection session is not guaranteed. Events involving the launch and use of Protected Browser with reduced protection are recorded in the Windows event log.
The following protection components can be turned off:
- System Watcher
- Network Attack Blocker
- Safe Browsing
- Red frame. Signifies that File Anti-Virus is turned off.
About protection against screenshots
To protect your data when you browse protected websites, Kaspersky Small Office Security prevents spyware from taking unauthorized screenshots. Protection against screenshots is enabled by default. Protection against screenshots is running even if hardware virtualization is disabled.
About clipboard data protection
Kaspersky Small Office Security blocks unauthorized access by applications to the clipboard when you make online payments, thus preventing theft of data by criminals. Such blocking is active only if an untrusted application attempts to obtain unauthorized access to your clipboard. If you copy data manually from the window of an application to another application's window (for example, from Notepad to a text editor window), access to clipboard is allowed.
Clipboard protection is not running if hardware virtualization is disabled on your computer.
If Protected Browser is started under the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system, Kaspersky Small Office Security will block interaction of Universal Windows applications with the clipboard.