NordVPN has released a free tool that can be used to check any suspicious URLs. Threat actors will use a variety of methods to try to trick you into visiting fraudulent sites. It can be as simple as replacing a letter in the URL and copying the format (something like Amazn.com). It can also be more complicated, like the result of a social engineering scam.
Regardless of the method, the goal is to get an unsuspecting customer to give hackers their login and possibly credit card info.
To ensure a website is safe, all you have to do is navigate to the official NordVPN website (Link checker: Is this URL safe? | NordVPN) and paste the URL of a website you think might be suspicious, or copy-paste new websites you visit. You don’t need a NordVPN account or subscription to use it and there are no limits to how many sites you can scan.
NordVPN’s tool will then compare your website against a massive list of known unsafe sites. It scans for malware and phishing scams and provides you with a report of any issues it finds.
Link Checker draws information about malicious websites from third-party sources – massive online databases that security experts continually update,” writes NordVPN in a recent blog post.
“In addition, Link Checker uses NordVPN’s own machine learning model, which was created to recognize zero-day phishing patterns planted within websites,” NordVPN said.
It’s not as simple to use as a browser extension which usually provides automatic website checking, but it’s helpful if you don’t want to go through the trouble of setting one up (or just want a second opinion on a website).
The new feature further bridges the gap between antivirus suites and VPN packages — antivirus companies like Norton also offer similar tools. Despite similar tools already being on the market, the more cybersecurity tools that are available for free, the better, at least in my opinion.