F-Secure is a company that provides digital security and privacy services, offering products like Internet Security for malware protection and browsing safety, and F-Secure Total, which adds a VPN, a password manager, and identity monitoring to protect users from online threats and scams. Pulse 2.0 interviewed F-Secure Threat Intelligence Researcher Megan Squire to gain a deeper understanding of combating AI-based scams and learnings from the company’s Scam Intelligence & Impacts Report 2025.
Role At F-Secure
What do you do for F-Secure, and how did you land there professionally? Squire said:
“I’m a threat intelligence researcher, so that means I’m part of the team that looks for patterns in data that indicate elevated risks for consumers. My background is in computer science, specifically cybersecurity and intelligence analysis, so this role feels really exciting. It’s very gratifying to be able to work on an important issue like scams and cybercrimes because it affects so many people all over the world.”
Core Products
What are F-Secure’s core products and features? Squire explained:
“F-Secure has made consumer cybersecurity software for more than 35 years now. I remember that I first heard of the company back in the 90s when I worked at one of their competitors – we were both making anti-virus products back then. The cyber threat landscape has definitely changed a lot since then, and today F-Secure offers a whole suite of products that take a more holistic approach to consumer protection, including malware but also scam protection, shopping protection, identity protection, privacy software, and the list goes on. They work directly with more than 200 service providers to protect millions of people around the world from danger online.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Squire cited:
“I’ve only been here since March, and I’m a little bit biased because I’m in the research division, but I’d have to say I’m very excited to see us focusing so much on researching victim behaviors with our new initiative called ‘Illuminate.’ Instead of just chasing whatever the bad guys are doing, we’re actually taking the extra step of looking closely and deliberately at how victims are impacted. By doing this, we’ll be able to come up with more effective ways that our software can prevent, protect, and remedy the effects of whatever those bad guys are up to.”
Scam Intelligence & Impact Report 2025
Could you discuss how the F-Secure Scam Intelligence & Impacts Report 2025 report came together? Squire explained:
“I like to think of this report as a ‘state of the union’ for the scam fighting landscape. We look back at the previous year and try to pick out the trends and throughlines that mattered the most to our work. We choose the most important data points and the biggest research questions that drove our work all year long, and then we summarize those for our stakeholders: our customers and our partners.”
Key Takeaways From The Report
What are some of the key takeaways from the report that you would like people to know about? Squire cited:
“There’s a lot of good stuff in the report, but since I wrote the article about how AI is being used by scammers, I’ll highlight that one. We know that scammers are using AI, but my goal was to understand HOW exactly they’re using AI, and then to figure out what that means for our work. I found that 89% of the time, scammers are using AI to overcome weaknesses in their own ‘bait,’ or the emails, texts, and advertisements they use to lure victims into a scam. One reason this is interesting is because it impacts how we educate victims. For instance, telling people to look for spelling errors isn’t going to cut it anymore.”
Changes That Should Be Made
Based on these key takeaways, what do you believe should be changed in society? Squire concluded:
“Since our AI research revealed that we can’t rely on surface signals like poor spelling and grammar as signs of a scam anymore, what is a smarter way to help folks build scam savvy and resilience? As with so many issues in the modern world, critical thinking skills turn out to be indispensable to fighting scams. So, we’re building new ways to help people determine ‘Does this request make sense? Should this entity be contacting me this way? What are they asking me to do?’”
