Jul 18 2009
Shortened Links Could Be Risky
The Internet is constantly changing. As mentioned in my previous post, we need to keep up with these changes. I notice that since I began using Twitter, using shorter URL addresses is popular. The problem with shorter url addresses is that you can not read where the URL leads. That leaves one open for entry into bad sites and possible malicious behavior. Fortunately, there is a way to unshorten those URL addresses. Daniel who writes at Daily Blog Tips, recommends using a URL unshortening tool like the one over at Sucuri.net. This tool will reveal the real URL behind the link and make checks with Google and with SiteAdvisor to make sure the website is safe to be visited. Thanks Daniel. This is good to know.
14 Responses to “Shortened Links Could Be Risky”
It is good advice, but really — how pathetic is it that you have to go to such great lengths just to make sure you don’t get scammed. Why don’t these people put their excess smarts and energy into curing cancer or fixing the economy? Sheesh.
.-= feefifoto´s last blog ..Here’s Another Reason To Admire Walter Cronkite =-.
I have never thought about this danger, but I have to agree that you are absolutely right. Someone could very possibly make use of this shortening url service to send malicious site. And by the time someone clicked on it, it’ll already be too late. Personally, I think twice too about clicking shortened url, unless it is from very very reliable source.
.-= BK´s last blog ..Honesty Is The Best Policy =-.
Someone could very possibly make use of this shortening url service to send malicious site. And by the time someone clicked on it, it’ll already be too late
Oh wow great share. I’m always so suspicious of shortened urls but now I needn’t fear them!
I consider myself one of those persons who does not randomly clicks a link unless it’s from a trusted source. Unfortunately I do consider Twitter a trusted source, which is quite stupid, I realise now. That unshortening tool is cool, but I (like Daniel) would also like it if someone created a Firefox add-on for this.
Honestly this whole shortened link think has started to really irk me. I would use other words, but I don’t want to hurt anyones ears. A. You have no idea where you’re going. B. you can’t mentally store the name of the website you’re at. and C. It just seems downright stupid. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but Digg is doing this now too. Which also makes me a little annoyed because I can’t tell if I’m going to a blog, a marketing site, or just some junk site that submitted an article to digg. Sorry I’ll get off my rant box for now.
You have made some valid points. I don’t know why the links have to be shortened in the first place. What is the advantage?
The advantage is that when search engines crawl sites, like digg that shorten the links, it doesn’t look like an external link so they dont leak any page rank out to sites that might be spam, or other bad news. Google would penalize them if they did, and since anyone can submit anything to digg I would imagine it was becoming a problem for them.
Nice tool… thanks for the info Karen..
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Ups.. Sorry Karen, it was too late for me notice your note.. So here is my name Peter Pelnyi.. Ok.. Thanks.
.-= Download Me´s last blog ..Hello world! =-.
I never thought how danger it is. I just click every url that has interesting title. never come to my mind to check it first. Is there no protection at all from url-shortening service vendor? They should have it. Thanks for this very good advice Karen.
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I’m always so suspicious of shortened urls but now I needn’t fear them!
I never click on shortened urls, or any url I can’t see the destination to for that matter. It’s way to easy for someone to put a virus or other malware on your pc.
I’m always interested to shortened urls so this is a great news for me.