unhookd

Inspiration

People constantly face phishing attempts through emails, links, and downloads, and it is easy to miss subtle warning signs. We wanted to build a tool that gives users a fast second opinion before they click.

What it does

unhookd is a Chrome extension with a FastAPI backend that analyzes emails, links, and downloads in real time. It flags suspicious content, assigns a risk level, and explains the result in simple language.

How we built it

We built a Chrome extension with a content script, popup, and side panel, plus a FastAPI backend. The extension detects page content and sends it to the backend, where rule-based checks and AI-powered explanations generate the final analysis.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenges were making scans feel real time without overloading the API and extracting email content from inconsistent page layouts.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We created a full working pipeline from browser activity to live security analysis. We are also proud that the tool does not just detect risk, it explains it clearly enough to help users learn.

What we learned

We learned a lot about chrome extensions, data extraction and real time API calling.

What's next for unhookd

Next for unhookd we plan on upgrading our API key to allow more requests, so the responses can be more accurate and we could reduce runtime of the chrome extension.