At present, opening the browser and clicking on a link on
the web is as natural as blinking, such is the penetration of the Internet and
its culture within our daily customs. In itself this has nothing wrong, but
nevertheless raises certain problems about our security when browsing. From now
on we will know some tips that will prevent clicking on a link from becoming a
real problem.
Although we surely have at our disposal an excellent antivirus and firewall
security structure to stop any threat that comes from the Internet, the problem
posed by malicious links is very difficult to stop or try to avoid, since we
are the ones who click on the same, guided by the promise of a free download, a
humorous video or anything else that may catch our attention, including the
false buttons that try to imitate the "Likes" so fashionable on the
Internet thanks to the spread of Facebook and other social networks. The threat
of malicious links is too widespread, and it is a scourge that few understand
and that many, in their ignorance, help to spread.
It is that normal people, those who use the Internet only
to chat, browse or read email, do not worry too much about the security of
their computer or the information stored in it, they blindly trust the
antivirus they have installed, without taking into account that if we don't
help them a little, not even the best market protection will be able to do much
for us.
A concrete example of this class of users are those who
indiscriminately send all their known links pasted in email messages, the
Facebook Wall, Twitter, or through instant messaging programs such as WhatsApp
or Line with things that they have found important or funny, without having
worried before reviewing or verifying their content.
This does not mean that our contacts are doing this on
purpose, it is that they are simply people who do not have a too rigorous
security policy, and ultimately those who are to blame for falling into this
trap are us, who finally click on it link.
However, not only do we get these malicious links from our
contacts, but we can also find them in many advertisements and even in the
search results of the most important engines.
What we will try from this article is to bring you a series
of tips and tools with which to avoid this danger and put a barrier to this
latent threat in each link we click.
It should be noted that all the tools and procedures are
free, and that we will not have to install any kind of program to use them.
Use tools to analyze Internet links
There is also the possibility of using different tools to
avoid falling victim to a malicious link. One of the best options available,
without a doubt, are the so-called link analyzers or Link Scanners, tools that
we can find in the form of a website or add-ons ready to install in our
browser.
As its name implies, a link analyzer intercepts the link's
address and analyzes the contents in search of threats or malicious programs.
There are many very good tools of this type on the market,
but one of the best is URLVoid, for two main reasons: it is fast to return the
results obtained and it uses several services such as Google and Norton's Safe
Web simultaneously, which guarantees us an excellent reliability.
Be especially careful with shortened links
How
to Avoid Being Infected
As we mentioned, any system that is connected to the
Internet could easily become, and without knowing it, one of these zombie
computers, which is why it is extremely important to take some precautions to
avoid it.
Although most of the current antivirus programs are
usually quite good at detecting viruses that intend to enter computers, the
truth is that they can still sneak through some vulnerability in the system, or
through some action that we ourselves carry out without realizing it.
Also, keep in mind that malicious developers who write
these botnet viruses know how current antivirus, antispyware and other security
programs work, so they can always generate new creations, and thus find a way
to evade security software.
Therefore, prevention is preferable to cure, so it is
advisable to keep the operating system updated, as well as with regard to
antivirus and antispyware. At the same time, it is important to make sure that
the firewall software is configured to stop any program that has access to the
Internet from inside our computer and that tries to connect without our
permission.
In addition, we must avoid entering sites that have
questionable content, it is recommended not to open suspicious links or emails,
as well as visit the misleading links that are often spread through social networks,
and at the same time also avoid the installation of software from doubtful
provenance.
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