Without links, it’d be nearly impossible to direct customers and employees to relevant marketing and communication channels.
Because of their immense value, they’ve become one of the most common targets for cybercriminals, with some using them to steal personal information, infect devices with malware, and scam users out of their hard-earned money. To protect your website’s reputation and brand, you need to prioritize link security and educate your employees (and customers) on how to verify the safety of a link before clicking on it.
Below, we’ll look at some of the common threats online scammers pose through links and guide you on protecting yourself from unsafe ones.
Common threats of unsafe or malicious links
Scammers may misrepresent malicious links as authentic ones, jeopardizing your (and your customers’) online safety and causing serious financial repercussions—in 2023, ransomware attacks alone resulted in an average loss of $5.13 million for businesses.
As a business owner, it’s important to urge customers and employees to exercise caution when dealing with all URLs. Unsafe or malicious ones could pose threats like:
Phishing attacks
With phishing scams accounting for 16% of all data breaches, this isn’t a threat you want to ignore. Phishing is a social engineering attack that aims to steal user data such as credit card information and passwords.
Typically, phishing cybercriminals masquerade themselves as trusted entities and send unsuspecting parties emails and text messages with links that appear to be from legitimate sources. They may send you an email with a link that seems to be from your bank to give you a false sense of security so you can provide personal information. If you do, it could result in everything from unauthorized bank withdrawals to identity theft.
How do you avoid falling victim to phishing links and malicious websites? Look out for red flags like:
- Information mismatches, such as misspellings and links that don’t direct you to the sites you’re used to.
- Unprofessional website designs.
- Requests for sensitive information that are too urgent.
- Promises that appear too far-fetched or too good to be true (like emails that tell you to provide your phone number or other personal details to win prizes).
Malware
Links are among the top ways bad actors install malware. They typically exploit vulnerabilities in operating systems and devices to install the malware without your consent or even knowledge—sometimes, simply clicking an unknown link is enough.
With the malware installed, unauthorized parties can access sensitive information and penetrate other devices in your network, putting your entire business at risk.
There are various types of malware attacks to be cautious of, including:
- Viruses: They create a backdoor for criminals to enter your system.
- Ransomware: These attacks are designed to deny you access to your system until you pay a specified amount of money.
- Spyware: These attacks are intended to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and track user actions.
- Wiper malware: These are designed to destroy data, causing immense financial losses.
The good news is that you don’t have to fall victim to these attacks. You can protect yourself by:
- Assessing everything from domain names to URL slugs to identify red flags like misspellings.
- Avoiding links sent via text message or email if in doubt, and instead, typing the URLs you want directly into your browser.
- Only downloading software from reputable sources (it’s best to get apps and software directly from original sources instead of third-party sites).
Data breaches
A data breach is a lot like a home invasion—only instead of physically breaking into your home, someone gains access to your system. Believe it or not, this can be more catastrophic than a home invasion, as it could lead to unauthorized access and loss of sensitive information, potentially costing your business millions.
Beyond causing financial losses, data breaches can result in significant reputational damage, impacting customer loyalty. More than 80% of consumers say they‘re likely to cut ties with brands that fall victim to cyberattacks resulting in data breaches.
Further, depending on your country and industry, they may result in lost business opportunities (potential partners may be unwilling to work with you) and regulatory fines from bodies like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
How to verify links to see if they’re safe
Cliche as it is, the phrase, “prevention is better than a cure” should be your guide when creating a safe online space. The best way to protect yourself is to assess a link’s safety before clicking on it. Here’s how:
1. Consider how the link looks
You can tell a lot by simply looking at a link. As much as cybercriminals try to disguise malicious links as authentic ones, they often leave tells like spelling errors, strange characters like too many hyphens and symbols, and domains that are entirely numbers. This is because they have to get creative when masquerading as legitimate entities.
Take the time to visually inspect any link you receive via email, text message, or social media, even if it appears to be from legitimate sources, just to be sure it’s safe.
2. Use online tools to double-check
Use online tools or URL checkers like Google Transparency Report, Norton SafeWeb, VirusTotal, and Google Google Safe Browsing to check the safety of a link before clicking it. Simply copy the URL and paste it into your chosen tool’s designated field for a safety report.
Bitly can also help—we prioritize Trust and Safety at Bitly to ensure customers can safely and confidently interact with shortened links. When you use the Bitly URL Shortener, people who interact with your links can easily verify their safety and destinations using the Bitly Link Checker. This can promote increased engagement by allowing customers to differentiate legitimate links from potentially dangerous ones.
3. Look for contact information
Many fraudulent sites lack contact information. So, if you do click on a link, check for a legitimate phone number, email address, and physical address (if the website claims to belong to a physical business) to confirm a site’s legitimacy. This can prevent you from giving out personal information to phishing websites.
4. Check the domain
You can verify a domain by checking its background information, including when it was created and who it belongs to, using a WHOIS lookup tool—there are various options, including Hostinger, GoDaddy, and Namecheap. Check if the domain information provided by these tools matches when the website claims to have been created, who it claims to belong to, and the country of registration. If it doesn’t, the website is likely malicious.
Also, before clicking on any URL, check its domain for spelling mistakes or differences from the company it claims to belong to. Scammers are clever and, as such, sometimes make slight variations, like adding an extra letter to the domain. So, carefully assess it to make sure it’s a complete match.
If you’re a business owner, follow short URL best practices like keeping your links clean and using a custom domain to make it easy for customers to verify your links’ authenticity. Shortening URLs and using branded links in marketing and communication helps customers recognize your URLs more quickly.
5. Make sure the site uses HTTPS
You’ve likely come across both HTTP and HTTPS versions when browsing, but do you know what they mean? While both Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) allow data transmission between websites and visitors, HTTPS is safer. It uses transport layer security (TLS) or secure socket layer (SSL) to encrypt data during transit, making it hard for hackers to intercept it.
To determine if a website uses HTTPS, look for the padlock symbol in the address bar. If it’s there, it means your connection with the website is encrypted, which minimizes the likelihood of hackers eavesdropping on or intercepting sensitive information exchanged between you and the site.
What to do if you click an unsafe link accidentally
While reading an email or text, you may click on a link within the message without giving it much thought—especially if it appears to be from a trusted source. However, it’s important to be vigilant. While clicking on an unsafe link can be worrisome, you can minimize their impact on your system by doing the following:
Disconnect from the internet
Disconnecting from the internet can prevent cybercriminals from gaining remote access to your device and reduce the impact of malware by stopping it from moving through your network. So, turn off your Wi-Fi network as soon as you become suspicious. The quicker you react, the less damage there will be.
Scan the device for malware
Run a full system scan using trusted antivirus software like McAfee or Bitdefender to identify and remove viruses before they wreak havoc on your system. When you’re done, enable active scanning to ensure these tools constantly check links and your device for malware.
Change and update your passwords
Clicking on suspicious links could compromise your current passwords and enable scammers to access your accounts. Change and update your passwords with stronger ones immediately if you suspect a security breach to bar their access. Some tips to keep in mind when creating new passwords include:
- Avoid using personal information like your birthday and name.
- Use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Include numbers and symbols in the new passwords.
- Make the passwords long—use at least 16 characters.
- Use a unique password for each account.
If you have trouble remembering multiple lengthy and complex passwords, you can utilize a password manager. These tools store all your login information for multiple sites in one central location. With a password manager, all you need to do is remember a single password—the one that grants you access to the tool!
Create trustworthy branded links with Bitly
With millions of URLs shared every day, you’ll likely encounter malicious links at some point. Protect yourself and your target audience using the safety tips discussed above, like checking the domain, using tools to double-check a link’s authenticity, ensuring the site uses HTTPS, and leveraging Bitly to instill customer confidence.
With Bitly, you can shorten long URLs and include your domain name to make it easier for your target audience to distinguish them from malicious links posing as yours. Not only that, all Bitly links are encrypted with HTTPS for greater security during transmissions between sites and visitors. For even more peace of mind, you can always use the Bitly URL Checker tool to preview links’ destinations before clicking on them.
Get started with Bitly today to build secure, branded links that foster customer trust!
