6 effective tips for checking phishing links

Tools for checking phishing links

Phishing links have traditionally been used to steal people’s information or spread malware maliciously. This is a terrible habit that will not stop as long as the internet exists. And that is why checking phishing links is very important. There are several tools that can be used for identifying dangerous links and they range from virus total, unshorten me to Jigsaw phishing test

Copy the link and unshorten it

When you recieve an email with phishing links or rather a phishing link from social media. Do not click on the link. You may end up downloading a malware or infecting your browser with malware. Sometimes the phishing link may lead you to a page that will ask for your information and it will be stolen.

Procedure

• Highlight the phishing link and copy it
• Go to your web browser and visit www.unshorten.me
• Paste the link in the tool’s search bar and press unshorten.
• The link will be unshorten

Alternatively, you can hover the cursor over the link to identify the actual link

When checking phishing links, looking at the url to identify if it has a padlock is key

Sites that do not have an SSL certificate are often marked dangerous. Browsers often flag those sites and one of the best ways to identify a phishing link is by checking the encryption often showing that the site is secure. On clicking further on the padlock, the browser displays a set of words that say site secure

Compare the domain name in the link with the domain extension of the email address

Emails that are malicious often have contradicting details. If a hacker has sent you a malicious email, then told you to visit a link in their website. You find that the two domains(One of the email and the link are often different). Take your time and compare

It is also important to identify to carryout checking phishing links using a phishing test

To carry out a phishing test, you can use a tool like shira app or jigsaw phishing test. The tools enhance your knowledge on identification of phishing emails including phishing links. Simply visit the links below to start your phishing test

Check the virus load in the phishing link

VirusTotal is one great tool that will help you to discover if a link has malware.

Procedure

• Copy the dangerous link. Do not click just copy
• Visit your web browser and type in the address bar https://www.virustotal.com
• Click on url and paste the link in the search bar, then press enter
• The results will show if the link has previously been flagged as malicious or not

Check for legit contact information using whois

Who is a tool that displays the details of a domain owner. Let’s assume there is a phishing link being claimed to be from Aljazeera spreading around, we need to find out if really the actual owner of the domain is actually from Aljazeera. What will be done is visiting whois.com and then entering the domain name in the search bar to identify the actual owner.