Computer Security Five Ways to Check If a Website Is Safe

Five Ways to Check If a Website Is Safe

is website safeMalicious websites that can harm your computer or impair its performance are more common than many people realize. From fake storefronts, to sites that host drive-by malicious installers, to fake virus warnings and badware pretending to be a helpful tool, there are a multitude of different threats hiding behind seemingly harmless URLs. Below are five methods you can use to check whether a website is safe to browse and use.

1. Raise your browser’s internal security gating level

All modern browsers include privacy and security options that allow you to tweak your browsing experience to be as loose or as strictly filtered and monitored as you want it to be. To improve general security and increase the filtering your browser does for you, on Chrome navigate to Settings -> Privacy and Security and select Security from the menu on the right. If you want maximum protection against potentially harmful websites without doing anything more on your part, select Enhanced protection in the Security settings. However, bear in mind that this setting also states that your browsing data will be sent to Google, as explained in the setting's description.

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Web browser security settings

2. Keep an eye out for HTTPS for online shops

While other sites that use login dialogs also use HTTPS, online stores virtually need to have this. The padlock and Secure text that show up in your browser’s URL box will inform you whenever a website uses secure HTTP. This means whatever information you feed into the forms on the site is encrypted to prevent potential theft.
All URLs that are secure HTTP will have the green indicator in the URL bar and will be displayed as https:// as well. A general rule of thumb is to never enter any sensitive information on a website that does not have HTTPS on.

3. Use a URL safety checker tool

Arguably the most popular website safety checker is maintained and operated by Google under the name Google Safe Browsing. The user-facing end of the tool is simply a box where you can enter the URL of a website and get a current-day safety status for the website, provided by Google’s safety technology.
Using the tool is as simple as typing or pasting the URL of the website you are interested in into the form and clicking a button.

4. Use your own two eyes and check URLs when you hover over them

Even if you don’t follow all the steps above for every link and website you click on, you can always do a very simple check before you follow any online link. All you need to do is simply hover over the text or element of the link and quickly glance down to your browser window’s lower left corner. This is where all links’ actual targets are displayed, regardless of what the text element on the page might say.

Just make sure that what you see displayed on the site matches the actual link your browser previews for you in its lower left corner. This may not sound like a big deal, but a lot of scams and phishing websites rely on similar simple tricks to lure people and you can easily avoid fake links by glancing over the link preview.

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Hover over hyperlink to uncover actual link

5. Watch out for signs of malicious activity

There are a number of very obvious signs that you should immediately close your browser and leave a website. Here is a list of things to watch out for when you open a site you are unfamiliar with:

  • Numerous unsolicited pop-ups
  • Any warnings about your PC being infected, any messages intended to scare you into clicking any further elements on the site
  • Malicious redirects that immediately open a new tab or simply force you to leave the site you clicked and load new content in the same browser tab

All of those are signs that something fishy is going on with the page you just loaded and your best bet is to quickly close the browser tab and any possible pop-ups that came up.

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