Encrypted Browser for Mobile Online Protection | Avast

by Avast Blog on April 8, 2020

People are increasingly choosing their mobile phones over their computers for browsing, communication, banking and more — in fact, last year, mobile devices accounted for nearly half of worldwide web page views. As our workflows and daily lives have changed for the foreseeable future, it’s a good time to pause and brush up on ways to keep yourself safe and secure, and where might be an area you haven’t thought about protecting before. Like your browser.

Especially on your mobile phone, your activity could be exposed to cybercriminals, advertisers, even your own internet service provider (ISP). Mechanisms are in place to follow you from site to site, which is why you see the same ads cropping up no matter where you go. “Why me? What makes me a target?” you might ask, and the answer is, it’s not you. It’s everybody. Anyone using the internet can be a target, whether for ads or something worse.

Even if you don’t use apps and services known for tracking your behavior, your ISP monitors your activity for a number of reasons; they have to adhere to government regulations, and some even sell user data.

Cybercriminals are always looking for new victims, and in these uncertain times are casting their nets widely to snag as many victims as possible. Often this happens over vulnerable public Wi-Fi or through common vectors like weak routers or phishing attacks. And have you ever wondered how those ads were following you around the internet. That also relies on tracking your every move on the internet.

Fortunately, all these prying eyes and grasping hands can be wiped away with the right tools, and the first step is an encrypted browser.

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So, what exactly is an encrypted browser?

First, it’s important to understand that your ISP is not the internet. It provides you access to the internet and thus has a front row seat to all your online activity. An encrypted browser establishes a tunnel via your ISP to the internet that your provider, and anyone else, cannot see inside. This hides any data you share over the internet, including the names of the websites you visit, so that even your own ISP won’t be able to see and log them. Sounds like every browser should do these things, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, they don’t.

Right now, it is critical that we all have protections in place at every gateway to the internet, meaning the browsers on our devices and the browsers on our desktops. Changing your browser to a secure browser is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself online. It’s both dangerous and unnecessary to take chances with online threats. Shut them down before they can get their hooks into your system.

Today, we’re proud to introduce Avast Secure Browser for Android because it’s even more than just an encrypted browser. It’s a Swiss Army knife of useful tools for comprehensive defense against mobile online threats. Along with encrypting your data, it also includes a VPN to keep you anonymous online and protect you over public Wi-Fi, and adblock that restricts pesky ads, allowing your webpages to load faster.

As for data encryption, our browser encrypts more than any other browser, including your bookmarks, your downloads, your videos and pictures, your IP address, your DNS queries, and everything you stream. It’s the all-in-one browser solution that lets you play, shop, and bank online safely without worry.

Learn more about Avast Secure Browser, available on Android, Windows, and Mac. Later this year, we will be releasing a version for iOS as well. These are not simply good tools to have, but essential tools for today’s digital world. Stay smart, everyone, and stay safe.