How to tell you If a Website Is Safe or not? – 7 Things always Remember
“Security” is one of the most important factors, when it comes to websites especially. And with so much of spams out there, it is hard to know if a website is trustworthy or not. Most websites are made to look great and respectable, however, are dangerous to use. Even the most excellent security software cannot protect a user from problems he or she encounters after clicking unsafe links. Such links often appear as shortcuts to shocking news, funny videos, “Like” buttons or awesome deals but are actually designed to take away all your sensitive details or to even hack your computer. Chances are that your friends or relatives might unknowingly pass such unsafe links via Facebook posts, instant messages or emails. You will also come across unsafe links in site’s ads & search results. So, how to tell if a website is safe or not? And how to avoid suspicious clicking links? Here is something for you to learn.
Tell me how a Web site is secure?
You should be very cautious while using a website, especially if you are about to give your personal details like address, contact number, bank account number or credit card number. Chances are that it could be phishing scam, wanting your personal data. Be aware of websites, which often seems to be genuine but have different pop-ups and intrusive ads or asking you to install plug-ins. So, it is extremely important to make sure if a website is safe before using it.If you feel that a source link is phishy, as in it must have come from any unrecognized email, then never do the mistake of clicking it until you have confirmed that its safe. Just follow the below listed tips to know if it is safe or dangerous.
1. Hover over a Link
At times, a link might mask the site to which it exactly links. And if you hover the link, you will observe a complete URL to its destination. This is displayed at the bottom left corner each time you hover it. So, You must be capable to see where it will redirect it to without even clicking it.
2. Analyze The Link First – Is It Shortened?
To copy a link for further analysis, without even visiting the website, just right click it & select “Copy link address” (if it is Chrome) and “Copy link location” (if it is Firefox). If the link appears shortened, you should un-shorten it first prior testing it. Just paste your shortened link in the box that appears on the website. It then provides the actual URL.
3. After You Have Un-shortened the URL, Use Link Scanners
I am sure you must have heard of “link scanners” somewhere. These are plug-ins and websites, which allows a user to enter a suspicious URL or link to check if it’s safe or not. You will find thousands of free link scanners online but I personally recommend using URLVoid first. This scans the link with multiple services like Google, Norton SafeWeb, MyWot and reports it quickly. Another helpful source is Sucuri. This website automatically expands short links and uses many secured services to determine if a link is dangerous or safe.
You could also copy a link in Comodo Web Inspector to know how safe it is. But this analysis might take some time because it runs in-depth looking for any malicious content. If you want the process to be quick, then I would suggest using Zulu URL Risk Analyzer simultaneously. However, once the Comodo Web Inspector completes, it presents you a detailed report. If the website has rated it — High Risk, then the link is dangerous. Now for the Zulu URL Analyzer, it also utilizes multiple methods for analyzing a website’s link. Once the process completes, Zulu provides you a total risk score. It ranges from 0 – 100. More is the score, higher is the danger level.
4. Check with VirusTotal & URLVoid Too
The next step on how to tell if a website is safe or not, is to use online tools like URLVoid and VirusTotal. You have to check the website against databases too. Just copy and paste a URL in VirusTotal. This helps you know what reputation the corresponding website has & if a particular domain has ever been blacklisted. Select “rescan” if the website has already rated it. If the website is known to be unsafe, then it will more likely be flagged by other services too. But, even if everything comes out clean, this does not mean that it is 100% trustworthy.
5. Check The Website’s Reputation
When you get the URLVoid results, look at the bottom. It shows you WOT (Web of Trust) ratings. This trust score is extremely helpful to learn if a website
6. Pay Attention to the “Lock” Icon
Few websites use secured connections. This might be very important, especially if you are making online purchases or giving out your personal information. To know if your browser is actually viewing a secured website, just look at the top left right corner of your URL box. You should see a small globe icon, which basically describes the zone you’re in. If you observe a yellow-colored padlock icon after entering the link, the website you view is “secured.” However, if it is empty, it means that the respective website doesn’t have a secured connection to your browser. There is another way to check this as well. There is this standard among different browsers to show a “lock” symbol somewhere inside the browser (but NOT in your web page area!) Say for example, Internet Explorer shows the “lock” picture at bottom right corner of your browser window while Firefox shows at the bottom left corner.
And this “lock” icon isn’t only a picture. It could reveal a lot about a website’s security. You should be aware of all this because many fraudulent sites are designed with a bar, which is usually at the bottom of a web page. This bar is too often imitating your browser’s lock icon. Hence, it is essential to test its (lock icon) functionality. All you have to do is – Double-click the lock symbol to see more information.
7. Ensure That the SSL Certificate Is Genuine Prior Making Purchases
You will surely know if a website is safe or not after you use the above online tools. However, if none of the above-mentioned methods work or you are not able to tell if a website is safe, and then do this before transmitting any of your sensitive details to a website. The first step is to ensure if a web page is SSL secured. This most often includes for web pages asking you to provide your credit card number, bank account details, contact number and so on. Observe the URL properly. If it begins with https://, the page you’re seeing is secured and trustworthy. And no user other than you can view your personal information you’re submitting. But, there is a subtle risk you need to be cautious of. You actually have different SSL certificate types, each providing varied trust levels. For instance, an extensive validation certificate guarantees that a particular business is legal, while other certificate types are validated only with respect to a domain and not the operators / owners. Remember this always — phishing websites are known to purchase low-level certificates just to trick users in believing that they’re trustworthy, however are not!
9 Other Free Online Checking Services To Reveal a Website’s Safety
Some antivirus offers network protection, which checks if a file and website is safe / not. Even browser add-ons notify users if a web page is 100% safe to use. Most browsers automatically block unsafe downloads or bad websites. However, if you still want to know better about a site, then use any of the below listed online services.1. Blacklist Doctor
2. Google Safe Browsing – A service from Google. All you have to do is enter a URL or link at the end of this [http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=]
3. LinkScanner
4. HpHosts – To see if a website is listed malware, phishing or rogue.
5. Norton SafeWeb SiteAdvisor
6. sURL
7. Unmask Parasites – This tells if a website has hidden parasites.
8. vURL Online – It dissects web pages if they are suspicious or malicious.
9. WOT Web of Trust – Use this to check if a website is spyware, malware, phishing or rogue
