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By default many URL Filtering products will block the navigation of short URLs (e.g. the URL used by Twitter to link external pages).

What is the reason behind this block? Why I should prevent the navigation of short url?

Many thanks.

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Usually a user can inspect the link on a website before clicking it. Certain websites serve the lone purpose of redirecting to another URL, which cannot be checked easily beforehand. Therefore, the user cannot possible know, which website he is about to connect to, which is not really safe-browsing.

I guess, this is the most common reason to block Short-Links.

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  • Thank you GxTruth, this was mine same first thinking. However, this feature often is prone to false positive (I mean, every single short URL si denied) and, what I really doesn't understend, after that a short URL is extended by short service, the user browser will navigate the extended URL. If any malicious content is provided by this extended URL, the same product will block the navigation. So, if this is true, and if I only want to deny malicious navigation by the users, my first impression is to disable this featured in order to not annoing the users. What do you think?
    – Roberto
    Aug 7, 2018 at 8:01
  • Sounds like we are talking about some sort of Anti-Virus or IPS software on a computer which blocks the connections? I didn't know what "URL filtering product" meant. It has to be noticed, that some short-link services like adf.ly serve ads before redirecting. This can be abused for malvertising, which is a valid concern. However, an adblocker like µBlock Origin does the job, so no futher product is required for this. In my opinion, blocking each and every short-link service is not worth the security gained, especially compared to an adblock based approach.
    – GxTruth
    Aug 7, 2018 at 8:07
  • I feel that this is only snake-oil-security because you cannot know if "long" URL is going to do redirect in the near future, too. The website could even fetch the URL (long or short) for you and display what it received but it doesn't mean that your browser is going to get the same response if you go to the same URL! The only safe option is to have a browser that is good enough to safely load any URL. And after the URL has been loaded you can inspect the URL of the rendered resource if it matters to you (e.g. before inputting your credentials in any way).
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Jun 15, 2021 at 9:28

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