PhishLens Personal Anti-Phishing Extension
A browser-based second opinion on whether an email or link is safe
- Problem
- Scams and phishing emails are increasingly convincing, and ordinary users (especially older relatives) struggle to tell; enterprise security tooling is overkill and expensive for individuals.
- Solution
- A browser extension: select any email text or link to get a risk score and plain-language explanation using lightweight heuristics plus public threat intel (URL reputation feeds). One-click report, local history, and a consumer-friendly UX.
- Users
- Everyday internet users, people protecting older family members, small teams without enterprise security budgets
- MVP
- Right-click text/link to trigger a check; query public URL blacklist APIs and show risk level; simple heuristics for shortened URLs, lookalike domains, suspicious attachments; copy-paste safety advice; local recent-check history.
- Revenue
- Free basic checks; subscription for real-time link blocking, family sharing, bulk email scanning; revenue share with threat-intel API vendors.
- Why now
- Phishing keeps evolving and AI-generated lures make detection harder; browser extensions are cheap to build and public threat feeds make an indie MVP feasible.