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My grandmother told me she visited a site to buy something but it did not open properly. It does look like it redirects to something else. It could be malware. Website: sanjaytools.com. Browser: Firefox.

I checked this URL using two online tools and both of them said it was safe, but I am not convinced.

I ran Microsoft Defender scans (quick scan and full scan) on the laptop and it does not show any “threats”. I also deleted all temp files.

  • Could you please help me determine whether this site is safe?
  • Is it possible that malware was downloaded to her laptop when she visited this site (because of the suspicious redirecting)?
  • Is the laptop safe for her to use? Especially for entering account credentials for log-in etc?
  • What additional steps should I take to make sure her laptop is free of malware?
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  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.
    – Community Bot
    Mar 19 at 21:59
  • @User We are not a malware checker. Such questions is outside the scope of the site.
    – vidarlo
    Mar 19 at 23:04
  • @vidarlo Could you please suggest any other forums where this post would be relevant?
    – User
    Mar 20 at 0:19

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Looking at the website (sanjaytools.com), I can tell you they have built this in WordPress, they have loaded plugins, and keep inventory. There could always be some form of a scam and you can't rule that out ever, however this site definitely doesn't trigger too many red flags by my books.

Now, how can you check a website contains malware safely? I would do the following things:

  • Scan the domain against blacklists. You can use tooling like https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload which will check that URL against a blacklist (see here for more information)
  • Run the site in a Sandbox environment to check it's behavior.
  • Contextually analyze the domain. There are indicators that hint towards a malicious domain including but not limited to:
    • Strange TLDs (i.e., .tk )
    • Misspelled common services or the service names appearing in a subdomain (i.e., facebook.account-manage.ml)

Worth adding that a good site can also suffer from an attack like stored cross-site scripting (XSS) to redirect you to something malicious, so do check on that too!

The other questions don't fit well in the Does this website contain malware? topic so won't expand on those, however my answers taking a punt are probably safe, maybe, maybe, keep it updated and her educated.

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I've always browsed the web from the POV that any website, even the ones I normally visit and trust, could be compromised.

What that means is:

  • Never keep too much money on your credit/debit card as many websites insist on saving your card information which could result in unexpected losses.
  • Always keep your OS and web browser up to date. Never ignore your web browser "Please restart to update" message.
  • Do you web browser tools (addons/extensions) which increase your safety, i.e. uBlock Origin and NoScript.
  • Pay attention to domain names.
  • Do not reuse your password for websites that matter - your bank, government, amazon, newegg, etc. (it's OK to use/reuse simple passwords for throw-away websites which require registration for no obvious benefits/reasons).

Recently I've almost been scammed at a legitimately looking website selling theater tickets but unfortunately 99.9% of people will never be able to figure it out. Here's what I did.

  • I ran it through domain information tools (whois) and found out that it had been registered a week earlier - that's an instant red flag.
  • I ran the website through major search engines just to see if there's any history - there was none.
  • The website was selling tickets for a show. I checked the website three hours later to discover it was selling the exact same tickets as three hours earlier which was very unlikely.
  • The website had no information about anyone who had created it, i.e. no postal address, no people, no nothing. Another red flag.
  • The specified phone number was fake.

Unfortunately the web, as it is, is rife with scams which most normal people will never be able to recognize and I've no idea how this can be fixed.

Probably we could have a different kind of an SSL certificate, issued or approved by the authorities. It's strange nothing like that has been done. In this case the presence of this certificate alone could give you the confidence that you're dealing with a legal company.

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