Free link checker helps identify malicious websites
Cybersecurity company NordVPN is launching a new, free tool to allow users to check the safety of a website before visiting it.
Link Checker scans a site for different types of malware and delivers a notification about whether it's fake or infected with phishing scams.
"Malicious websites are becoming harder to spot with the naked eye. Well-known typography tricks, such as replacing 'Amazon' with 'Arnason' in a URL, which have worked for well-known domains, have now been upgraded to suspicious elements hidden under a URL shortener, often making phishing websites look legit. Link Checker is a response to the growing scale and intricacy of phishing attempts online," says Vykintas Maknickas, head of product strategy at NordVPN.
Link Checker employs NordVPN’s own machine learning model, which has been created to recognize zero-day phishing patterns planted within websites. In addition, this proprietary model uses Nord’s Intelligence Database to identify bogus websites that intend to lure users into phishing scams.
Maknickas adds, "Among the biggest advantages of the Link Checker is its two-fold nature. Combining proprietary machine learning techniques with the Nord Security Intelligence Database, Link Checker offers one of the most inclusive data sources to detect harmful URLs. In fact, Link Checker incorporates information on 95 percent of the most popular domains mimicked by cybercriminals, who often use phony variations to disguise online scams or malware."
Link Checker is free to use for both businesses and individuals, and it doesn't need you to create an account or set up a subscription. You can read more on the NordVPN blog
and try out the tool for yourself here.
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