Best AI-Powered Security Software (2025): McAfee Named Top Protection Against Deepfakes, Scams, and Malware by Software Experts

NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Software Experts has recognized McAfee as the Best AI-Powered Security Software for its efforts to counter rising online threats, including texts, emails, and deepfakes. The recognition highlights McAfee's advancements in artificial intelligence and its focus on consumer safety in a digital landscape increasingly shaped by generative AI.

Best AI-Powered Security Software

• McAfee - a global leader in online protection for consumers, offering adaptive solutions that safeguard personal data, privacy, and identity in an always-connected world.

The announcement comes at a critical time. Every day, scammers deceive individuals through fake texts, emails, and videos, often with severe consequences. Americans report receiving an average of 14 scam messages each day. One in five (19 percent) individuals who fall for a scam lose over $1,000, while 4 percent report losses exceeding $10,000. On average, consumers spend 94 hours per year attempting to determine whether the messages they receive are legitimate or fraudulent.* Deepfake scams, which use AI to generate synthetic video and audio, can be even more damaging, with some victims having lost over half a million dollars in a single incident.**

For less than five dollars and in under ten minutes, realistic video and voice deepfakes can be created using publicly available tools. In some cases, victims have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to scams involving fake celebrity endorsements or AI-generated impersonations of company executives.

As these threats increase in scale and sophistication, the ability to distinguish between real and fake content has become a critical need for consumers. McAfee addresses this challenge with its Scam Detector, a multi-layered solution included at no cost with McAfee core plans such as McAfee+ and McAfee Total Protection.

AI-Powered Protection Across Multiple Threat Vectors

Scam Detector provides contextual detection and real-time alerts across three common scam types: text scams, email scams, and video scams.

Text scam protection analyzes incoming messages for risk indicators and alerts users before they engage with harmful content. On Android devices, risky texts are flagged quickly. On iOS, suspicious messages are filtered discreetly. If a risky link is tapped, Safe Browsing technology works to minimize exposure and blocks risky sites if you accidentally click.

Meanwhile, email scam protection monitors inboxes for suspicious content, flags potential scams in real-time, and provides detailed explanations to help users understand the threat. The feature supports Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other major providers, with support for up to ten inboxes per user.

Video scam protection delivers alerts if AI-generated audio content is detected during playback. This detection is performed on-device, leveraging neural processing units (NPUs) in supported Lenovo PCs and select smartphones. No user content is uploaded to the cloud, maintaining privacy and ensuring user control over detection settings.

Detection capabilities are continually refined through AI model training, which now includes analysis of over 200,000 audio samples. This allows Scam Detector to identify deepfake video scams with a high degree of accuracy, based on factors like cadence, tone manipulation, and speech patterns.

Continuous Protection Against Malware and Emerging Threats

In addition to scam protection, McAfee delivers comprehensive defense against malware, ransomware, and other online threats. McAfee's antivirus uses cloud-based and on-device scanning to provide real-time protection across Windows, macOS, and Android platforms.

Its approach combines traditional signature-based detection with behavioral and machine learning models, allowing the system to identify both known threats and emerging or zero-day attacks. Malware detection runs quietly in the background to evaluate files and system behavior, ensuring threats are isolated and neutralized before they can cause harm.

For users concerned about privacy, McAfee+ plans also include features such as Secure VPN, which encrypts internet traffic on public networks, and Social Privacy Manager, which can adjust over 100 privacy settings across social platforms to safeguard your personal information.

These layers work together to provide a holistic approach to security, one that addresses both the sophisticated manipulation tactics used in scams and the persistent risks of malicious software.

Broader Trends in AI-Driven Security

Software Experts' recognition of McAfee underscores broader shifts in consumer security. Traditional digital security models, which focused on device-level protection, are no longer sufficient to address dynamic threats posed by generative AI and social engineering. Cybercriminals now exploit emotional triggers, impersonation tactics, and synthetic media to deceive even the most cautious users.

McAfee's response has been to evolve its approach to consumer security. Scam Detector is not simply a warning tool. It functions as a system that contextualizes risk and delivers insight to the user. By teaching consumers how scams operate - whether through urgent tone, spoofed domains, or AI-generated voice manipulation - McAfee aims to build resilience, not just resistance.

In terms of availability, including Scam Detector at no additional cost as part of McAfee+ and McAfee Total Protection represents a commitment to keeping modern protection within reach for general consumers. Both plans offer cross-platform coverage, protecting users across PCs, smartphones, and tablets. Video scam protection currently supports Android, AI PCs, and select non-AI PCs.

Among consumer protection providers, McAfee delivers what is currently considered the world's first automated deepfake detection system running locally across supported platforms. Combined with its emphasis on privacy, education, and proactive defense, the solution aligns with growing demand for tools that are not only technically advanced, but also transparent and accessible.

Scam messages, fake content, and AI-powered fraud are not going away. In fact, they are expected to grow more sophisticated with time. Consumers are increasingly looking for tools that can help them tell the difference between real and fake, not just through warnings, but through education and meaningful insight.

McAfee, recognized by Software Experts as the best AI-powered security software, delivers timely and relevant protection against some of the most pressing challenges facing online users today.

The full review is available at Software Experts.

About McAfee

McAfee Corp. is a global leader in online protection for consumers. Focused on protecting people, not just devices, McAfee's consumer solutions adapt to users' needs in an always online world, empowering them to live securely through integrated, intuitive solutions that protect their families, communities, and businesses with the right security at the right moment. For more information, please visit https://www.McAfee.com/.

* A McAfee survey, which focused on the topic of deepfakes, text and email scam messages, and the impact of these scams on consumers, was conducted online in December 2024. 5,000 adults, age 18+, in seven countries (US, Australia, India, UK, France, Germany, Japan), participated in the study.

** For example: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/14/technology/elon-musk-ai-deepfake-scam.html

About Software Experts: Software Experts provides news and reviews of consumer products and services. As an affiliate, Software Experts may earn commissions from sales generated using links provided.

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SOURCE SoftwareExperts.org