A good reputation is a sign of good history of behavior.  Learn what web reputation is and the importance of web reputation.

What is Web Reputation?

Everyone and everything on the internet has a reputation. From websites to files to apps and beyond, there’s a history for each internet object, how it has behaved over time, and what bond it has with other objects.  Just like with people, if an internet object is associated with a bad crowd that’s known for stealing information and spreading malware, then the object itself is probably bad too. 

Web reputation means that a web, website, or internet you’re associated with, should be from a good background, it has not involved in any malicious or cyber-crime activity, it should have a good background, etc.  All good points and there is no harm in surfing the web. The most important thing about any web reputation service is accuracy, which is usually determined by the breadth, depth, and variety of the data being used. 

The algorithms used to analyze the relationships between internet objects and determine web reputation must be continually trained by experienced human analysts, and the data they use must be continually refreshed. But with an accurate web reputation source fueling your URL filter, firewall solution, or other network appliance, businesses can rest assured that they’re well on their way to a resilient, proactive cybersecurity posture.

In the case that a harmless domain gets hijacked to host a malicious website, then the domain’s reputation score will suffer.  By association, the other sites linked to that domain may also see these consequences in their own reputations. To better their reputation after being hijacked, benign objects will need to remain clean and unaffiliated with dangerous internet objects for several months or more. That’s web reputation in a nutshell.

Why is Web Reputation Important?

Website reputation is important for your security and online safety. New websites and online threats have something in common: they both emerge at astonishing rates and often simultaneously. On top of that, dynamically generated web content, mashups, rapid deployments, websites structure, and links change very quickly, creating major security gaps and ample opportunities for cybercriminals and malicious actors to cause damage.

 On the internet, there are many websites that lack enough security, while others are actually designed to take advantage of unsuspecting visitors.  Internet users can be exposed to a wealth of threats, including phishing, keyloggers, spyware, drive-by malware, and the many other types of malicious code, and these risks are only growing in number with every new website that appears.

Legitimate sites get compromised or temporarily hijacked regularly, and malicious websites may shift rapidly between malicious and benign behaviors to avoid detection. Website reputation intelligence helps secure internet users from known malware sources and malware, or inappropriate content on the internet, typically via web or URL filtering solutions. 

On the other hand, some web browsers and internet service providers may also use web reputation to help keep you safe from malicious internet content. This type of protection is possible through website reputation. Website reputation if implemented in the correct manner can provide an accurate, up-to-date risk analysis of a given website at the moment a user attempts to access the URL, independent of its site category. This web reputation capability is really necessary because it ensures protection against sites that have only very recently been created, compromised, or hijacked.

How to determine a web reputation score?

There are various factors that help you to determine web reputation score.   Here are some of the parameters that may be used in gauging website reputation. 

• URL category 
• History of the URL
• Age of a URL
• Domain reputation
• Associated URL reputation
• Presence of downloadable files or code
• Previous association with malicious internet objects
• Current association with malicious internet objects
• Popularity
• Hosting location
• Real-time performance
• Website and/or network owner
• Presence on any allow/block lists

Tools to Check Website Reputation

Watch out for the 3 tools to check website reputation. 

• IP Reputation
• Web reputation
• Anti-phishing intelligence

IP Reputation

Everything on the internet contains an IP address for the right destination.  However, you can even block all communications to and from known malicious IPs.  By incorporating real-time IP reputation intelligence, enterprise, enterprises, and technology providers can better protect their users and customers from IP-related threats.

Web Reputation

Enterprises and technology partners can assess a website's reputation in real or near-real time, at the same moment a user tries to access it, using web reputation intelligence, also known as URL reputation. Users are thereby shielded from the dangers of new, unknown, or frequently changing risk status web pages.

Anti-phishing intelligence

As you know phishing is the most common online threat. Many of the most dangerous phishing sites are extremely short-lived, existing in the wild for minutes or hours, instead of days. With the help of real-time anti-phishing intelligence, technology partners can perform site scans as a user attempts to access the website, alerting them to potential risk and blocking them from visiting a phishing page.

Improve security online 

There are a variety of ways website reputation intelligence can be used to enhance security online. Find out some of the most common applications for web reputation and IP reputation intelligence.

• Boost web filtering gateways
• Securing wireless access points
• Next-gen firewalls

Boost web filtering gateways

Web filtering gateways provides multiple security services into a single platform for outbound filtering protection from malicious or unwanted website. However, you need to specify to Gateways that which websites are malicious or undesirable.

Securing wireless access points

A wireless access point (WAP)allows WiFi-enabled devices to connected to wired networks. WAP service providers can incorporate real-time web classification and web and IP reputation services to build in web content filtering that can detect and block malicious activity accurately before it attacks the user.

Next-gen firewalls

Next-gen firewalls (NGFWs) boot security policies at the application, port, and protocol levels to detect and block sophisticated cyberattacks. But by themselves, NGFWs are unable to do or monitor other things like differentiating between benign and malicious IP addresses, or monitoring behavior, but antivirus software can do. Therefore, a next-gen firewall that comes with antivirus protection or vice versa can be the best choice for you. You can also take a look at Priil’s security suite to get the best firewall protection.

Start with antivirus software on your own for website security

If you’re new to the business world, or just created your new and fresh website, make sure you take all the precautions and applications that help you to protect your websites on your own. Somewhere your web security is connected to your computer; because if any of one is infected it can be dangerous for the second one. Antivirus software can help you with this. To protect your pc from all online threats, Priil antivirus protection not only helps you to protect your pc, but it also notices the behavior of your pc, monitors malicious activity, and provides firewall protection.  A web reputation is really necessary and you really need it to make a clear and secure present and future of your web reputation. But, starting with your own to maintain your web reputation and security, antivirus protection is really helpful and a good choice.

Final Touch

Hey guys! This was the guide about “what is web reputation.”  Your web reputation ensures your online security and a good image of your website in the business world. Web reputation is necessary and there are various factors you can consider to improve web reputation. I hope this guide would tell you everything about web reputation. If you still have any queries regarding this article, please let us know in the comment section below. We would be glad to answer you!