Yandex Browser Blocks Over 350 Million Transitions To Dangerous Sites In Six Months

Posted by By Dan Taylor 2 Min Read

Yandex Browser has prevented users from accessing dangerous websites over 350 million times in the past six months, tripling the total recorded for all of 2023. The browser’s built-in neural network plays a key role in identifying threats, checking websites for phishing in real time, and warning users about risks.

Growing Database Of Dangerous Sites

The browser’s database now includes over 600,000 phishing and harmful websites, with 178,000 new pages added in the last six months alone. The service issues around two million daily warnings about potential fraudulent sites. Neural network technology accelerates the process, analyzing site behavior and identifying threats quickly.

Common Scams Detected

Yandex Browser’s neural networks have identified several recurring types of phishing and scam sites designed to steal personal and banking data:

  • Fake Video Platforms: Users are tricked into subscribing to notifications, leading to phishing attempts.
  • Bogus Shopping And Fundraising Sites: These aim to collect bank card details through fraudulent payment pages.
  • Scam Dating Sites: Users are asked to pay for non-existent subscriptions.
  • Fake Investment Offers: Personal data is collected under the guise of lucrative investment opportunities.
  • Lottery And Sweepstakes Scams: Users are prompted to provide card details to claim fabricated prizes.
  • Compensation Fraud Pages: Sites claim to offer compensation and request sensitive information.

Enhanced Security With AI

The integration of neural networks allows Yandex Browser to detect and block threats faster, helping users avoid falling victim to scams. As the database grows, the browser continues to improve its protective capabilities.

Earlier, Yandex Browser introduced a cashback feature in rubles for purchases made in stores and marketplaces, adding further value for users.

Source: Yandex Press Release
Dan Taylor
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Dan Taylor is the founder and editor of International Search Insights (ISI), the publication behind ReadIsi, and a Partner and Head of Innovation (Search & AI) at SALT.agency. He has worked in search for more than a decade, in-house and agency-side, and is regarded as one of the West’s leading voices on search engines beyond Google, including Yandex, Baidu, Naver and Cốc Cốc. On ReadIsi, Dan covers the engines and AI answer platforms that English-language coverage tends to miss: Baidu and ERNIE, Yandex and Alice AI, Naver, Cốc Cốc, Shenma, Sogou, WeChat and Weibo search, plus DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen. He also keeps dated records of documented changes, such as the Yandex, Baidu and Naver algorithm update histories and the DeepSeek, ERNIE and Qwen model update histories. His approach is to take learnings from global search engines and apply logic with a high evidence threshold. A claim needs a source, patterns seen in one market are treated as a hypothesis until they are checked in another, and where the evidence is thin he says so. For brands, that means advice built on what can be shown, with measurement that separates being cited from being chosen. Dan is credited with coining the term “edge SEO” and won the inaugural TechSEO Boost research competition in 2018 for his work on CDN and edge changes for SEO. In 2026 he was credited with coining “Infinite Tail” to describe how keyword research is changing with AI search. He is the author of AI Search Marketing For The Travel Sector, writes for Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land and Travel Marketing Guy, and has advised technology, SaaS, travel and enterprise ecommerce brands, including Cloudflare, GitLab and Airbnb. He has given multiple talks and panels at the International Search Summit in Barcelona, and has also spoken at Optimization Moscow, brightonSEO, Google Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia in Bangkok, Athens SEO and the Asia SEO Virtual Summit 2026, where his talk looked at how Baidu, Naver, DeepSeek, Tencent, Cốc Cốc and Yandex built their own AI answers.
Founder & Editor