Fallax

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  Hero screenshot

🧠 Inspiration

Phishing and social engineering attacks are a growing threat, especially in places with low digital literacy. Many Nigerians (and people globally) unknowingly fall victim to malicious links. We built Fallax to fight back — a lightweight yet powerful all-in-one security tool that analyses suspicious URLs, reveals deceptive patterns, and helps users stay safe online.

⚙️ What it does

Fallax detects phishing attempts through:

• 🔍 Real-time URL analysis using keyword scanning, blocklists, and domain patterns
  
• 🧠 Title mismatch detection using Google search comparisons
  
• 🧾 Manual metadata inspection without heavy DOM libraries
  
• 🎯 Minimalist UI with a focus on speed and accessibility

🏗️ How we built it

• Next.js (TSX) for frontend and routing
  
• TailwindCSS for sleek, responsive styling
  
• React-icons for visual feedback
  
• Custom HTML parser for extracting metadata manually (no Cheerio or JSDOM!)

🚧 Challenges we ran into

• Some sites (like ChatGPT.com) blocked server-side HTML scraping due to bot protection
  
• Balancing accuracy with speed without relying on heavyweight browser engines
  
• Creating a phishing detection logic that works without ML models or external APIs

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Built an efficient phishing scanner without relying on JS-heavy libraries
  
• Solved dynamic content fetching issues with strategic header spoofing
  
• Designed an interface that’s both simple and practical
  
• Laid the groundwork for Fallax to grow beyond phishing detection

📚 What we learned

• How real-world websites handle bot protection
  
• The power of manual HTML parsing when done right
  
• How to build scalable security logic using just TypeScript
  
• That deception comes in many forms — and you need clever tools to catch it

🚀 What's next for Fallax

We’re turning Fallax into an all-in-one digital security suite. Upcoming features:

• 🔒 Password strength checker
  
• 🕵️‍♂️ Email header analysis
  
• 🔐 Leaked credential checks via public breach APIs
  
• 🧬 Fingerprint detection for cloned/malicious sites
  
• ⚡ Browser extension for real-time phishing warnings

Built With

• nextjs
• tailwindcss
• typescript