Site Safety Checker

Malware and phishing checker.

This security tool built to identify unsafe websites across the web and notify users of potential harm. We hope to encourage progress toward a safer and more secure web.

Malware explained

These websites contain code that installs malicious software onto visitors’ computers, either when a user thinks they are downloading legitimate software or without a user’s knowledge. Hackers can then use this software to capture and transmit users private or sensitive information. Our Safe Browsing technology also scans and analyzes the web to identify potentially compromised websites.

Phishing explained

These websites pretend to be legitimate so that they can trick users into typing in their usernames and passwords or sharing other private information. Web pages that impersonate legitimate bank websites or online stores are common examples of phishing sites.

How we identify malware

The term malware covers a range of malicious software designed to cause harm. Infected sites install malware on a user’s machine to steal private information or take control of the user’s machine and attack other computers. Sometimes users download this malware because they think they are installing safe software and aren’t aware of malicious behavior. Other times, malware is downloaded without their knowledge. Common types of malware include ransomware, spyware, viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.

Malware can hide in many places, and it can be hard even for experts to figure out if their website is infected. To find compromised sites, we scan the web and use virtual machines to analyze sites where we’ve found signals that indicate a site has been compromised.

Attack sites

These are websites that hackers have set up to intentionally host and distribute malicious software. These sites directly exploit a browser or contain harmful software that often exhibit malicious behaviors. Our technology is able to detect these behaviors to categorize these sites as attack sites.

Compromised sites

These are legitimate websites that have been hacked to include content from, or to direct users to, sites that may exploit their browsers. For example, a page of a site may be compromised to include code that redirects a user to an attack site.