How to Spot a Malicious Link Through Text Message
These days, a staggering amount of viruses, malware, and other threats are sent through SMS and MMS. Protect yourself by learning the 101 on phishing URLs.
Have you recently opened a suspicious link on your smartphone by accident? Run Security Scan to quickly search your phone for malware and security threats. If any malicious threats are found, this feature will quickly remove them. It can be a great alternative to the Full Virus Scan feature, because you can use the Security Scan when you’re short on time but don’t want to sacrifice the security of your phone. Click here to quickly scan your device for malware:
Ways You Can Detect a Phishing Link
As an Android user, you’ll be happy to know that malicious URLs are often easy to spot. Here are the top 3 ways to recognize a phishing attempt.
You don’t recognize the sender. Remember how your parents said never to talk to strangers? Well, you shouldn’t be opening their URLs either. If you get a message from someone you don’t know, opening the link they send you is a very poor idea. Additionally, hackers often pretend to be a reputable institution, like your bank, school, or employer, so be very careful.
The text message seems too good to be true. If the SMS says you’ve won the lottery or a contest you didn’t enter, then unfortunately for you, it’s probably a hacking attempt. While it’d be lovely to become an instant millionaire, you’re more likely to end up being someone with a hacked phone. So, don’t open that tempting URL.
The link appears to be shortened or contains odd characters. Phishing links often look a little strange. Hackers like using shortening services to create a compact URL. This trick is excellent for masking insidious URLs. But you can safely expand these links by using online tools, such as CheckShortURL and Unfurlr. On the flip side, a malicious link can also be very long and contain unusual characters. Symbols like “%” are often a warning sign that the original URL is encoded and hiding its dangerous origins.
When it comes to detecting malicious text messages on your Android there is a secondary way to safeguard your phone. Clicking on a link in a text message is a quick and easy way for a hacker to take control of your phone. To protect your device and personal information from phishing attacks, activate Anti-Hacking now:
