The McAfee SiteAdvisor, later renamed as the McAfee WebAdvisor, is a service that reports on the safety of
web site
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipe ...
s by
crawling the web and testing the sites it finds for
malware
Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
and
spam
Spam may refer to:
* Spam (food), a canned pork meat product
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...
. A browser extension can show these ratings on
hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text wit ...
s such as on
web search
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
results. Users could formerly submit reviews of sites.
The service was originally developed by SiteAdvisor, Inc, an
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
startup first introduced at
CodeCon CodeCon was an annual conference for software hackers and technology enthusiasts, held every year between 2002 and 2009. CodeCon was not intended to be a computer security conference, but a conference with a focus on software developers doing presen ...
on February 10, 2006, and later acquired by
McAfee
McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...
on April 5, 2006. Since its founding, it has received criticism for its improper rating of some sites, and more importantly the length of time it takes to resolve complaints.
Usage
Prior to mid-October 2014, the functionality of SiteAdvisor could be accessed by submitting a URL to the website at https://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/, but can now also be accessed through a downloadable Browser Plugin.
Sites are rated in levels of ''Safe'' (green tick), ''Suspicious'' (yellow exclamation mark) and ''Unsafe'' (red ''"X"'').
Additional features include:
* Rates email and IM links
* Indicates sites potentially harmful to your computer
* Allows users to safely shorten URLs when sharing links
* Alerts users to possible phishing and identity theft scams
* Redirects you away from red and yellow sites (if Protected Mode is enabled).
Products and services
A paid version of McAfee SiteAdvisor, McAfee SiteAdvisor LIVE, is included in
McAfee Total Protection
McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...
and has extra features:
*Download Protection - SiteAdvisor LIVE allows the consumer to adjust how aggressively SiteAdvisor scans downloads. This can stop downloads which are considered to be slightly, probably or possibly risky depending on setting determined by the user. This feature can also be turned off.
*Protected Mode - Allows the user to set a password for SiteAdvisor to prevent users from accessing or downloading from Yellow and Red rated websites. This password will also be required to change any SiteAdvisor settings after Protected Mode has been enabled.
In addition to selling to the end consumers, as of 2017, McAfee also sells to the web site owners with their McAfee Secure program, which supposedly runs daily security checks and gives passing sites a "McAfee Secure" badge.
As of December 2010, McAfee Secure marketing materials say there are 350 million installs of McAfee SiteAdvisor, and a likely much larger viewer base with search engine agreements such as that with Yahoo.
A
URL shortening
URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web in which a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) may be made substantially shorter and still direct to the required page. This is achieved by using a redirect which links to the web page that has a ...
service which advertised itself as "secure" was operated until mid-2018. Its defining feature was that it would deny redirecting to sites classified by SiteAdvisor as insecure, to provide users receiving a "mcaf.ee" URL with the confidence that they would not land on a malicious site.
Games and quizzes
In March 2006, McAfee launched a
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
-based
quiz
A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...
which has users pick between sites rated as safe and unsafe.
A
flash-based memory training game called "WebQuest" was launched around 2007.
Studies and research
SiteAdvisor has published various reports regarding online threats such as
typosquatting
Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, a sting site, or a fake URL, is a form of cybersquatting, and possibly brandjacking which relies on mistakes such as typos made by Internet users when inputting a website address into a web browser. Shoul ...
, where mistyped domains may lead to sites ranging from harmless pay-per-click and domain parking sites to pornographic and malware sites.
Criticism
False negatives
The very nature of SiteAdvisor and the long periods between site crawls mean that even if the SiteAdvisor tests were 100% accurate a Green rating offers no guarantee of safety. Malicious code and browser exploits often spread fast over large numbers of websites, meaning a Green rating may not be up to date and may provide a false sense of security.
TrustedSource
McAfee SiteAdvisor now makes use of the
TrustedSource
TrustedSource is an Internet reputation system originally developed by CipherTrust and now owned by Intel Security. It provides reputation scores for Internet identities, such as IP addresses, URLs, domains, and email/web content.
Reputatio ...
website reputation organisation, to act as something like a 'cloud' intelligence software to get the most up-to-date information on websites as possible, very similar to McAfee's Active Protection (Artemis) system. The details of this system are not known.
Awards
*
''Time'' magazine named SiteAdvisor.com among the 50 coolest websites of 2006.
* ''
Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'' awarded SiteAdvisor the "Best of What's New" award in the Computing category for 2006.
*''
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
'' ranked SiteAdvisor at #15 in "The 100 Best Products of 2007."
See also
*
Norton Safe Web
Norton Safe Web (sometimes abbreviated NSW) is a service developed by Symantec Corporation that is designed to help users identify malicious websites. Safe Web delivers information about websites based on automated analysis and user feedback.
T ...
*
Website Reputation Ratings
Reputation management, originally a public relations term, refers to the influencing, controlling, enhancing, or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation. The growth of the internet and social media led to growth of reputation managem ...
*
WOT: Web of Trust
References
External links
*
*
Safe report example (Wikipedia)*
Cautionary report example (whenu.com)*
Warning report example (sify-antispyware.co.cc)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcafee Siteadvisor
McAfee
2005 software
Freeware
Reputation management
Windows software