Samsung Electronics is strengthening security features on its Galaxy devices to pre-empt mobile financial fraud threats such as malicious apps, messages and voice phishing.

Samsung Electronics said on Monday it will upgrade the "phishing app risk alert" feature starting with One UI 9.0, which will be installed on new smartphones in the second half of the year.

Samsung Electronics has applied a feature since 2024 on devices running One UI 6.1 or later that blocks phishing app installations by receiving a list of scam-purpose apps shared by the National Police Agency. In One UI 9.0, to be released with new Galaxy products in the second half of the year, it checks Galaxy Store reputation data during installation to determine whether an app is suspected of phishing. If an installed app is confirmed as malicious, it blocks execution immediately. It also plans to introduce a feature that issues a warning and prompts deletion if a user tries to run an app installed within hours after a suspected voice phishing call or installed via remote control.

Samsung Electronics is also updating "security policy updates" for Galaxy devices based on data provided by the National Police Agency and the Korea Internet & Security Agency. Starting with the Galaxy S26 series, devices running One UI 8.5 or later allow users to update security policies in real time.

It is also expanding its malicious message blocking feature. Samsung Electronics is working with the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Internet & Security Agency to block malicious messages in advance based on criteria such as sender numbers, risky links and spam keywords. Since the feature was introduced in September 2024, it blocked a cumulative total of about 400 million malicious messages through April this year.

From the Galaxy S25 series, it applied a deep learning-based "Intelligently Block" feature. Using about 500,000 cases of data per month on average provided by the Korea Internet & Security Agency, artificial intelligence learns to automatically classify and block suspected messages such as illegal gambling, loans, stocks and smishing. It is currently available on Galaxy smartphones running One UI 7.0 or later.

The Galaxy S26 series also introduced a "call screening" feature in which AI answers incoming calls and summarises caller information and the call content. It lets users review the content before answering and reject calls suspected of spam or fraud. Call analysis is processed on-device.

A "suspected voice phishing call alert" provided on devices running One UI 8.0 or later uses AI to analyse risk in real time during calls and guides users through "suspicion" and "warning" levels. The feature is provided enabled by default and its usage rate stood at about 84 percent as of April this year.

Samsung Electronics also provides a range of Galaxy privacy protection features including a privacy display, personal information protection alerts, automatic blocking of security risks, stolen device protection, private sharing and secure Wi-Fi.