How to Tell If A Link Is Malicious (before it ruins your day)
One of the main reasons people get hacked is painfully simple: we click stuff without checking it. And attackers know it. They’re basically professional button-pushers. This guide shows you fast, practical ways to check links in emails and on websites – without needing to be a cybersecurity wizard.

The 10-Second Rule (The “Don’t Click Like A Goblin” Checklist)
Before you click any link – Do This:
·Hover over it (don’t click) and look at where it really goes.
·If it looks weird – copy it and scan it first.
·If you’re still unsure: don’t click it. You’re not obligated to be brave.

Part 1: Checking Links Inside Emails (Phishing Central)
Email is still the #1 place attackers try to trick you. Because it works. Because humans.

Step 1 — Hover the Link (No Clicking)
Hover your mouse over the link and look at the preview URL.
Red Flags:
·Hard-coded IP address instead of a normal domain
·Example vibe: http://185.123.45.67/login
·That’s often suspicious (not always evil, but often) because legit services usually use real domains.

Weird, sketchy domain:
·Example: secure-login-support-paypal.ru (come on)
·“Looks almost legit” domain
·Example: go0gle.com or micros0ft-support.com
NOTE: This is the sneakiest category because it’s designed to fool your eyeballs.

Step 2 — Copy & Scan the Link in VirusTotal
If the link looks even slightly cursed:
·Copy the URL
·Paste it into VirusTotal
·Review the results
NOTE: VirusTotal checks the link across multiple security engines and reputation sources. It’s a quick “is this link known-bad?” sanity check.

How To Read Results (n00b version):
·Flagged by multiple engines → probably bad
·Flagged by 1 engine → could be new/unknown, could be false positive… still be cautious
·Clean → not guaranteed safe, but less likely to be obviously malicious

Step 3 — Can’t Copy the Link? View the Raw Email
Sometimes email clients make copying annoying (because of course they do).
If you can’t copy the link normally:
·Open the email options (often “More” or “…”)
·Choose something like “View original / View source / View raw message”
·Search for: http or https
·Copy the full URL from there
·Scan it in VirusTotal

Part 2: Malicious Links on Websites (Because the Internet Is a Haunted House)
Bad links also show up inside normal webpages: ads, fake buttons, download traps, “click here to continue” nonsense.
Same rules apply:

Step 1 – Hover First
Hover over links before clicking.
·If the destination is weird → scan it
·If it’s an IP address → treat as suspicious until proven otherwise

Step 2 – Copy & Scan in VirusTotal (Again)
Yes, this is repetitive. That’s because it works.

Part 3: Do This Often? Use the VirusTotal Browser Extension
If you scan links a lot, manually copy/pasting gets old fast. VirusTotal offers an official browser extension called VT4Browsers + Google TI for Chrome-based browsers, and it’s also available for Firefox.
·Right-click a link → scan it
·Check suspicious pages faster
·Less tab-juggling, more sanity

Part 4: “Instant” Link Verdicts (Extensions That Warn You Automatically)
Sometimes you want a tool that just slaps a warning label on bad stuff without you doing extra steps.

Option A – Total WebShield
Total WebShield can help flag unsafe sites and includes features like site verification and breach-related alerts (depending on platform/version).

Option B – Bitdefender TrafficLight
Bitdefender TrafficLight is a free browser add-on designed to block/flag malicious pages and suspicious search results.
Pick whichever you’ll actually use. The best security tool is the one you don’t uninstall after 4 minutes.

Part 5: Typosquatting (The “Looks Legit” Trap)
Attackers love typosquatting: they register domains that look almost identical to real ones.
Common Tricks:
·Extra letters: faceboook.com
·Swapped letters: facbeook.com
·Wrong ending: .net instead of .com
·Dashes: face-book.com
·Numbers: faceb00k.com
·Invisible Characters: f aceb00k.com
NOTE: This is the nastiest version: “Invisible” character swaps. This is where it gets spicy: attackers use characters from other alphabets that look identical to English letters (like Cyrillic characters). The result? The domain looks normal… but it’s not. When that happens – your eyes can’t reliably detect it. So don’t rely on vibes.

What To Do Instead:
·Scan with VirusTotal to confirm if it’s known-bad
·Use typosquat detection tools like “Have I Been Squatted” (brand/domain monitoring style)

Part 6: Checking “Bad Reputation” IPs (AbuseIPDB)
If you see a suspicious link pointing to a raw IP address (or you already extracted an IP from something shady), you can check it in AbuseIPDB.

It Shows:
·How many times an IP has been reported
·What kinds of abuse it’s associated with (brute force, spam, scanning, etc.)
·Community reports and comments
·This is useful because sometimes “the link looks fine” but the infrastructure behind it is a known dumpster fire.

Wrap-Up: “The Smart Way to Not Get Owned by a Link“. You now have multiple ways to check suspicious URLs:

·Hover before clicking
·Scan URLs with VirusTotal
·Use VirusTotal browser extension for speed
·Use TrafficLight / Total WebShield for automatic warnings
·Watch for typosquatting / lookalike domains
·Check sketchy IPs with AbuseIPDB

And the biggest lesson: If you’re not sure… scan it. If you’re still not sure… don’t click it.