A website that is familiar or well-known isn't always safe. Every day new phishing websites are created to mimic the look and feel of regular websites, and even the most prominent companies can find their websites a victim of hacking.
Why Guardio Blocks Websites
Guardio monitors websites 24/7 to ensure that they're safe. When Guardio identifies a threat, it flags the website. This way, your personal information and computer remain safe. Here are some threats Guardio identifies:
- Malware - Malicious software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer.
- Phishing - Imitating a familiar company or individual to trick victims into sharing their personal information, like passwords or credit card numbers, with cyber criminals.
- Malvertising - Use of false claims to lure website visitors for financial gain.
- Scams - Use of deception to obtain personal information or money from victims.
- Permission Abuse - Tricking users into permitting a website to perform invasive operations.
How Guardio Identifies Malicious Websites
- Dynamic fingerprinting - rules that evolve over time to block malicious and suspicious operations
- Advanced heuristics - based on large-scale data gathered by Guardio's sensors, Guardio deduces relationships between seemingly unrelated sites.
- Machine learning - Guardio utilizes machine learning techniques to identify malicious websites with high accuracy.
- Other - Easily confusable URLs often used in phishing attempts (example: paypol.com instead of paypal.com)
Reporting a Website for Review
If you believe Guardio mistakenly flagged a website, you can alert our security team to review the website. To alert Guardio's security team to check a website, select Learn More on the block page, then select Report a Detection Problem.
Overriding a Website Block
If you're sure a website was mistakenly flagged, you can bypass the block and continue to the blocked website. This option appears at the bottom of the block page.
Permanently Allowing a Blocked Website
If you visit the blocked website often, you can avoid the need to bypass the block each time by adding the website to your "Allowed List".
- Open your Personal Dashboard.
- Locate the blocked website in your Recent Browsing Activity list
- Select the three vertical dots to the right of the website and select Allowed.