Hello All! ^_^
Dear respected readers! I hope you all are doing great! Being a member of the CNET community, I recently got an amazing e-mail newsletter from them about "How to check if a Web site is safe". I have linked that article if you would like to read that article directly! :)
It is a good article and has given really good ideas about checking if the website safe or not. But as you all know, I donot copy the content, so I would rather write my own views, though that article gave me ideas and some examples of tools, so how could I forget to show Courtesy to the CNET Team?! :)
What the tools actually check are checking them for Phishing scams. Actually, they work in the manner that, they check if the site the user(that is YOU!) have entered in their search bar/check bar, has been reported for any phishing scam or not. So you may not guarantee their ability to tell you whether you are safe or not. But still, there are some 6-7 tools, and if you check all of them, you get quite some idea. These days, when there is so much of phishing going on stealing people's information, I guess,such tools(which are for FREE!) really prove to be handy. Well some nice weapons in you inventory/armoury are always great when you don't know the power of your enemy(The Phisher could be more dangerous, depending on his skills!). And atleast with some confidence you can open the link. These days we can't even trust the link sent to us from our bestest friend, the reason being, even that message may be a result of phishing scam they might have had been a victim of! :O
Oh by the way! There so much of hue and cry about this word PHISHING, but still not many of us know its real meaning. Though I have talked about them in my previous post that I made yesterday, so you people can refer to it for details about what is Phishing!
So now comes the tools:-
1. Web of Trust - It is an Add-On for both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. but I don't think it is much reliable, Most of the sites got no rating, I mean the sites you would actually want to know are they safe or not! Moreover, the ratings are based on the average ratings given by the other users of WOT around the world. And who knows, if more than 50% of the reviewers are themselves involved in preying the people! Still, installing it has no harm. Well, to have something is better than nothing, right?! its simple to use,. Install its addon, and it would automatically tell you the ratings of the site as you open it. You can also convert it into a Parental Control, if you may like! ;)
2. Google Safe Browsing - Another handy tool, free to use, and web-based. The only thing is that, it checks if the link has been reported for Phishing in past 90 days. SO you can think if you are a victim in the period of not reporting, then?! :O But still, as I said earlier, to have something is better than nothing! ;) All you have to do to use it is, type in the address bar the following link, and type in the address/URL of the website you want to check after the "=" sign, press enter/go, and you are done! :)
http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=
3. hpHosts - This is yet another free and easy to use tool to check the safety of the website, simialr to Google Safe Browsing tool, the difference being here you got a text-box where you can type in your QUERRY link! HpHosts gives you more-detailed information than Google Safe Browsing, if you're into that kind of thing. Though I don't recommend it, as all the URLs I typed, it said, "Currently not listed" LOL! Still if you want to give it a try, go on to the following link. Yes! One mroe thing, the more place you check before going on a particular site, the better it is. Well, atleast better to "waste" time (as some may think) than to be a victim of Phishing!
Click here for hpHosts Service
4. Norton Safe Web - To those who know me personally would rather be shocked to see I am recommending a Symantec product, even though I have developed a strange hatered for that company due to some past experiences! :/ Anyways, there is yet another irony to the situation, IT IS TRUSTWORTHY! You can download a free and effective parental control too. I mean the Parental Control is Trustworthy, though I don't know much about the site as yet! LOL! All because, earlier there was a similar initiative by McAfee(Though I don't know it still exists or not!) and it was highly unreliable! Still for Symantec Fans, and adding yet another weapon in your armoury against Phishing, following is the link!
5. Unmasked Parasites (beta) - Yet another for you! Unmasked Parasite is worth giving a try. It is similar to the hpHosts one, and is somewhat reliable. The only problem is that, THIS SITE GOT TONNES OF ADVERTISEMENTS! >_< but!! Safety got no alternatives, so I recommend check here too once! :) Unmasked Parasites Link
6. Some security tools for downloading:
- AVG LinkScanner (download for Windows | Mac)is a free add-on that works with both Windows and Mac.
- AVG's free Mobilation Android app (download) for blocking Malicious links on your Android Device.
CNET Article - http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20098098-83/how-to-check-if-a-web-site-is-safe/?tag=nl.e757
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