FAQ and troubleshooting

FAQ and troubleshooting

The "Scan with PhishLens" button does not appear

Reload the Gmail or Outlook tab. If it still does not appear, check in chrome://extensions that PhishLens is turned on, and that the address is a supported one (mail.google.com, outlook.office.com, outlook.office365.com, outlook.live.com).

"Extension context invalidated"

The extension was updated or reloaded while the tab was open. Reload the tab. Recent versions reconnect open tabs by themselves after an update.

"Server unreachable" or the scan never finishes

• Open the popup, gear icon, Test connection.
• With PhishLens Cloud: the server may be restarting (it comes back within a few minutes). The website shows "server online" when it is up.
• With a local server: check that it is running and that the logs show Text model loaded from ... (or open http://127.0.0.1:8000/health).

"Connected · older server that does not report its version"

The server answers but runs a version from before 2.0, which did not report its version. Scans work normally.

How do I change the language?

Gear icon, Language. See Languages.

A real email was marked as phishing

It happens, mostly with:

• emails or documents in a language the wording model was not tested on (see Languages);
• technical or security documents (pentest reports, password policies), whose vocabulary looks like phishing;
• newsletters and notifications with many tracking links.

Click Wrong verdict? Report it under the verdict: you see the text that would be sent, with names, addresses and numbers removed, and nothing leaves your browser until you confirm.

Mark it Wrong in Insights. If a link was flagged by Google Safe Browsing, take it seriously even if the sender is known: the account may be compromised.

A phishing email was marked as safe

Mark it Wrong in Insights and, if possible, report it to your provider (Gmail: Report phishing in the email menu). New phishing sites are often unknown to the lists for the first hours.

Does PhishLens read all my emails?

No. It reads an email only when you click Scan with PhishLens, or, if you turned it on, when Scan new emails automatically scans unread emails in your inbox list. See Privacy in short.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It is a desktop Chrome extension.

How do I help improve PhishLens?

Mark verdicts Right or Wrong in Insights, report wrong verdicts with Wrong verdict? Report it, and if you agree, use Share my statistics. Nothing is sent without your confirmation.

Is it free?

Yes, and free software under the GNU AGPL-3.0 licence.