How to Check a Website and See If It’s Safe

There are so many dangerous things online that it’s always a good idea to prevent falling victim to criminals. It’s a good idea to know what can happen if you go to a site that isn’t safe. Browsers generally let you know if a site isn’t safe by displaying a warning that the connection isn’t private or that there is malware on the site. If you get a warning, close out of the site right away. If you are on an unsafe site, malware or ransomware could be transmitted to your computer and end up causing identity theft or other crimes. An unsafe site leaves your data vulnerable.

Check for an SSL Certificate

SSL, or secure sockets layer, is a type of certificate that tells you that a site is legit and that it has encryption. Encryption is there to protect your data against anyone who might try to get it. To check for this certificate, look at the site’s URL. There should be an https at the beginning of the address. If it doesn’t, it isn’t secure. The “s” after the http signifies that the site is secure. You will also see a lock icon to the very left of the URL. This means that you’re securely connected to the site. If a site doesn’t have either, it might be a safe place to visit, but you shouldn’t give it any of your data.

Look for the Privacy Policy

If a site talks about its security but you aren’t sure exactly what they actually mean, you can find the privacy policy on the site and see what it says about its security. This can be especially helpful if the site brags about its security. Finding the privacy policy is a quick way to find out what type of information the site gets from you and what they do with it.

Check the Site With a Website Checker

You can use a website checker to see whether a site is safe if a warning didn’t pop up but you still aren’t sure about the site. Google has its own website checker, but there are others as well. To use one, you simply paste the address of the site into the checker and see its assessment of the site. If it’s unsafe, the checker will let you know.

Look Carefully and See If a Site Is Real

Spoofing websites is common, and this can mean serious problems for you if you trust a spoofed site. Check the URL carefully to make sure that you’re on the actual site that you intended to visit. Many hackers set up fake sites that people visit when they make a typo in the URL. Other spoofed sites use a fake URL to get you to click on it and end up at the unsecure site. This site then steals your logins and passwords to hack your accounts.
If the site doesn’t look right, double-check the URL and see where you are. If you see that you’re on a spoofed site, close out of it and clear it from your history so that you don’t go there again.

Read Site Reviews

If you want to visit a new site but you aren’t sure that it’s a legit place to do business with, you can read through site reviews. To find these, just use a search engine to search for the site’s name and the word “review.” Then, look through reviews and see whether they’re negative or positive. Find out whether customers have consistently had problems with it. People who have been victimized often warn others when a site is a scam or is unsafe, so these reviews can be very helpful.

Look for the Site’s Contact Information

If you’re suspicious of a site and whether it’s real, you can look for the site’s contact information. If there isn’t any, it may be because the owner doesn’t want anyone to contact them for shady reasons. If there is contact information, you can contact someone and ask questions about its legitimacy. If you don’t want to trust the site with your financial information, you can also ask about some other way to buy from them.

Look for Any Errors on the Site

If a site has a lot of spelling errors and/or design issues, it may be because the site isn’t safe. Scammers who set up fake sites generally don’t create the professional design features and text that legitimate sites do. If you’re on a site that you know is a professional site and you’re seeing spelling and grammar errors, check the URL again to make sure you’re not on a spoofed site. This is also important if you go to a site that you’ve been to before and it looks different or has misspellings. Close out of the site right away if you find this to be the case.

You’re Inundated With Pop-Ups

If you go to a site and there are way too many pop-ups, this may be a sign of an unsafe site. Whether the number of pop-ups is too many is subjective, but most people could agree that there are too many pop-ups when they interfere with your navigation of the site. If the pop-ups aren’t related to the website, this is another sign that a website might be unsafe.

Avoid any pop-up that asks for your financial information, gives you a fake cybersecurity warning, or advertises something completely unrelated to the site. A fake cybersecurity warning can look real, but it wants you to click on it to download malware. These are called scareware, and they often look real. Using a pop-up blocker can be helpful for staying safe from dangerous pop-ups.

Discover the Site’s Owner

When you’re in a new online store, at least new to you, you can check to see who owns it. Going to Whois and conducting a search with the site’s URL will tell you who the owner is. If this doesn’t match the owner as reported on the site, it may be an unsafe site. This is also helpful if you simply want to check who the owner is before you do business with them. Many people want to be conscious about where they spend their money, and this is a helpful ally.

Use Tools to Stay Safe

There are web security tools that anyone can use to protect themselves online. These can help keep you from fake sites and keep your data from the hands of scammers. Some have features such as parental controls and Built-in VPNs for even more safety. Using these tools can help to protect your data such as bank account information and passwords. They can help keep you safer from malware that can be damaging.

Call in the Professionals

The internet can be a risky place, but staying informed and cautious helps protect you from online threats. Knowing the dangers of unsafe websites is essential—malware, ransomware, and data breaches can lead to identity theft and other crimes. Modern browsers often alert you when a site isn’t secure, warning of potential malware or privacy issues. If you see such a warning, it’s best to leave the site immediately. But even with safe browsing habits, threats can still slip through. That’s where iLOCK360 comes in, providing advanced credit monitoring and identity theft protection to keep your data secure and give you peace of mind in an unpredictable online world.

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