Below we take a look at F-Secure’s core features.
Browsing and Banking Protection
F-Secure protects browsing users through a browser extension that blocks devices from entering malicious web pages that might contain malware, exploits or phishing techniques. The extension also provides users with a handy color-coded visual cue that appears next to search results on Google, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo or Bing to quickly distinguish which websites are safe to access. Green signifies safe, yellow suspicious and red malicious. The browsing extension is compatible with Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge.
F-Secure’s Banking Protection feature installs alongside the browsing extension and will activate whenever the user accesses financial or banking websites. While active, Banking Protection will prevent you from accessing potentially harmful sites until you conclude your banking activity. Additionally, F-Secure’s remote access blocker averts third-party attempts to access your device while you’re banking, adding an extra layer of security.
Antivirus Scanner
Along with other antivirus scanners, F-Secure references a large database of known malware in order to detect malware code on a system and wipe it out. However, zero-day malware still poses a significant threat to users since their code won’t exist on any known databases until it’s too late.
For this kind of malware, F-Secure implements its DeepGuard module, which detects and monitors files that the scanner is unable to label as either safe or harmful. DeepGuard observes the file when it launches and while it’s running. If the file exhibits any behavior that appears harmful or exploitative, DeepGuard halts its activities.
In addition to full scans, quick scans and scheduled scans, F-Secure also performs real-time scans which can identify and quarantine malware as it attempts to enter a system. Since F-Secure’s scanning engine is cloud-based, users will hardly notice any lag while performing scans whether it’s a full scan or the real-time scan working in the background.
Parental Controls
Family Rules is F-Secure’s parental control feature that allows users to set screen time limits and block certain types of online content. The content filters provided by F-Secure are not extensive but are definitely sufficient. Any additional websites that might not meet filter criteria can be easily blocked or allowed manually. Family Rules can be remotely managed through the My F-Secure portal which—like the rest of F-Secure’s interfaces—is intuitively designed and easy to use.
Family Rules also provides a “bedtime” feature that prevents device use for specific time periods. The bedtime feature is available on Windows and Mac. On Android, it is limited to preventing non-system apps only, and on iOS, it only works on Safe Browser.
Parents can also view all the installed apps on their child’s device and either restrict or block access to them with the App Control feature. This feature is not available for iOS.
VPN
F-Secure’s VPN is effective and secure, but it is limited by its server count and locations. While it’s important to remember server networks can grow, at the time of this writing, F-Secure’s VPN only offers 28 server locations in 22 countries. Restrictive countries such as China and Russia are not included. Compared to CyberGhost VPN, for example—which offers over 9,000 servers in 91 countries—F-Secure’s VPN might not offer enough server flexibility for some users.
Despite server count, the VPN works well with streaming sites including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime and more. Users can either choose a server location or set the VPN to automatically choose the server closest to the user.
Unfortunately, F-Secure doesn’t allow torrenting on certain VPN gateways, including the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, France and more. If torrenting activity is identified on these gateways, the user’s connection will be temporarily blocked.
Security-wise F-Secure’s VPN is well-equipped. AES 256-bit encryption (the industry standard for encryption today) protects your data, and IKEv2 and OpenVPN protocols are also secure and well-known for speedy performance.
Read More: Best Antivirus with VPN
Identity Protection
In order to prevent or catch security breaches, F-Secure’s ID monitoring combines 24/7 dark web monitoring with human intelligence to identify compromised user personal information. ID monitoring can watch various items such as emails, credit cards, Social Security numbers and usernames. The ID monitor will then notify you if any of the items are breached or have ever been breached. F-Secure will also provide expert advice and assistance for users who have experienced a breach or identity theft, which is a nice touch.
Password Protection
F-Secure’s Password Vault provides users with useful password management and recovery tools. Similar to all other F-Secure interfaces, the Password Vault interface is clean and simple. You can set up the Password Vault easily by creating a master password and then downloading a QR code as backup in case you forget the master password.
Password Vault can import passwords from other browsers, generate strong passwords and save usernames and passwords for use with autofill.
