General discussion
WOT ratings
Thu 28 Aug 2008 02:42:15 PM UTC — Will12Hi
I'm not clear about WOT ratings .If somebody create one site and that have Malware or spyware and he or his around ppl rate that site trusted thn what??That site gonna be trusted site for everybody ??Mainly i wants to know how this works......
Thanks...........
Re: WOT ratings
Thu 28 Aug 2008 03:56:39 PM UTC — SamiRatings are usually rather quickly corrected even if the bad guy and all his buddies rate the site good. If not by other users, then by the automated sources we use for catching dangerous sites. Users also have to prove themselves before their ratings are fully trusted, which means that new users won't be able to set the rating for a previously unknown site, for example. Of course, these types of manipulation attempts are often automatically detected and stopped.
If you want to learn more about these concepts, I recommend reading our early blog posts.
Ratings for bad sites.
Thu 28 Aug 2008 06:39:06 PM UTC — logicmanWelcome to WOT, Will12.
Bad sites are put on the web to cause users harm.
To do that, they must somehow advertise.
That is usually done through spam - as emails,
forum posts, forum users signatures, comment spam etc.
There are many people who hunt down these new sites
so we can rate them and report them. It is a matter of luck
whether we catch them rapidly or not. In some few cases,
we flag a site as bad even before the bad people have finished
getting it ready.
By using WOT, anyone can help with this. Just write a comment.
Don't just say: "This site is bad." If you say something like:"I think
that this site is bad because ..." and give your reason, then your opinion
will carry more weight and help more people.
Stay safe!
:-)
Hi there! i found something
Fri 29 Aug 2008 01:35:25 AM UTC — User 567Hi there!
i found something interesting about WOT ratings.
Besides www.goggle.com
be a hoax, its ratings are bad as possible. And there's nothing there! Even hidden scripts (check with NoScript by yourself).
and there are plenty of "trusted" sites that, well, are propagating Bravesentry for download.
I guess this is a big problem. People can rate a site just for fun, or just because know by there "little friends" that's dangerous, or even worst, trustable!
thanks! and i hope that you can find a way out about that.
goggle dot com
Fri 29 Aug 2008 02:17:12 AM UTC — logicmanHi, user 567.
Can you please edit your post to show goggle dot com so that it isn't a live link.
goggle dot com is a VERY DANGEROUS site promoted by forum and comment spam.
Do NOT go there!
Stay safe!
:-)
how to rate
Mon 08 Sep 2008 03:13:32 AM UTC — GemGarnetHi, I usually use a Mac, so I am not too afraid to go anywhere, I recently got a Windows machine and I am frightened to go anywhere...so thank you for WOT., I am not very savvy w/ regards to viruses, malware, spyware, I have only reviewed a few sites,but they are sites that I have done business w/ for years. So, here is my question/comment: If I visit say a green site, and nothing bad happens can I assume it is a good site, and then should I rate it? Or, might I not know it was a bad site so I shouldn't rate it. DO YOU NOT WANT SOMEONE AS IGNORANT AS ME RATING A SITE 'CAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR? I DON'T WANT TO DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF WOT. Also, I find it quite disconcerting to see a green donut and then when I look it up only to find that no one has actually rated it, it has been bookmarked on delicious or wikipedia,--can I assume it is safe to go there then? Sorry for my ignorance, sorry it this is addressed elsewhere and I couldn't find it, but any light shed on this for me would be greatly appreciated. Also, when you put in a request for a comment what does that mean exactly ?
thanks in advance
How to rate sites.
Mon 08 Sep 2008 12:45:15 PM UTC — logicmanHi, GemGarnet.
Here's a quick way to test out an unknown site, even without going there:
you use Google search.
Let's take two examples, and pretend they're not rated yet by WOT or SA, so they come up grey.
I'll write hxxp instead of the correct form so as to 'break the link', that way it's not live.
Suppose you are searching for "free gift" and see two links in Google results:
hxxp://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/21/nasty_hybrid_virus_gift_unwraps/
hxxp://join1.winhundred.com/affiliate/link.php?ref=11006&productid=157&sid=gateway
Again, imagine you never heard of either site - is it safe to go and have a look?
Try a Google search for the root domain names - winhundred.com and theregister.co.uk - but add a few key words.
Here's some search terms to try:
the register.co.uk scam
the register.co.uk spam
the register.co.uk fraud
the register.co.uk criminal
the register.co.uk law
winhundred.com scam
winhundred.com spam
winhundred.com fraud
winhundred.com criminal
winhundred.com law
You will see that one is reporting spam, whilst the other is causing spam.
I think you get the picture as to which one to trust. :-)
Thank you Logicman that was
Mon 08 Sep 2008 03:10:56 PM UTC — GemGarnetThank you Logicman that was very helpful!
More useful tools
Tue 09 Sep 2008 10:50:19 AM UTC — phantazmYou can also read more about a site by looking at the whois information.
Try this: www.domaintools.com
Here you can see who registered a site.
When it was created.
The physical origin (IP location)
And much more...
Things to watch out for:
Was the site created a few days ago, or is it many years old?
Scam sites are typically very new, and their average lifetime less than a week.
A trusted site is typically years old, some even from the 90'ties...
Is the registrant anonymous?
A private person may have reasons to hide,
but a public company should not...
If you suspect malware on a site, check it here:
http://linkscanner.explabs.com/linkscanner/default.asp
If you suspect phishing, check it in www.phishtank.com
A suspicious file? Let 35 different engines check for malware: www.virustotal.com
Hope it helps...
Re: more useful tools.
Tue 09 Sep 2008 07:23:36 PM UTC — logicmanphantazm, that deserves a bump! :-)
There's a short-cut to whois - it's a button on every site's WOT ratings page - near the middle when you've just loaded the page. Very handy!
:-)
What's a 'bump'..?
Tue 09 Sep 2008 08:11:53 PM UTC — phantazmI'm not sure what 'bump' means..?
But, you're right, there is a shortcut to whois.
I somehow overlooked it... (Mea culpa)
In any case, a good idea! I only wonder:
Why doesn't Siteadvisor offer that kind of info..?
Re: bump.
Tue 09 Sep 2008 08:22:56 PM UTC — logicmanWhen you click on the 'forum' tab you see a list with most recent contributions at the top.
Any new comment causes that topic to be 'bumped' to the top of the list.
hth
:-)