Entered CNET Catalog: 02/13/2007
SKU: CNETLINKSCANNERPRO
Manufacturer: Exploit Prevention Labs
Manufacturer description
Once a program has access to the Internet, it can do anything - including allowing hackers to hitch a ride. Hackers can simply sail through the firewall unchallenged, because they're riding along with a trusted application. LinkScanner Pro provides real-time analysis of network traffic and web site content to stop exploits and malicious content automatically. As more applications need to communicate with the Internet to work properly (such as web browsers, media players, word processors), a vulnerability in any creates an opportunity to bypass traditional security products. LinkScanner Pro monitors open Internet connections and secures vulnerabilities until the software's manufacturer can release a patch. It also integrates with major search engines to check search results before you visit; a color-coded icon appears alongside each listing, so you get advance warning of poisoned sites and can steer clear of active threats. Even a properly configured firewall can unknowingly permit dangerous traffic onto your machine. Hackers can bypass firewalls by hiding within legitimate traffic your firewall must allow for programs to work. Simply visiting a bad, hacked Web page can then expose your machine. Vulnerabilities and exploits like WMF, VML, CreateText Range and setSlice have, and continue to, spread rootkits and open backdoors on computers around the world. With over 50 million active Web sites, many of which change and update their content from hour to hour, you need a real-time solution to detect threats and keep your PC out of trouble.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/16/2007
Exploit Prevention Labs Linkscanner Pro takes a decidedly different approach to identifying and alerting users to potentially harmful Web sites. Rather than scan all the Web sites on the Internet and rank them, as McAfee SiteAdvisor does, Linkscanner Pro scans sites as they download onto your browser, identifying code and links known to be malicious. Linkscanner Pro is available as a paid service, and it's the only secure browsing tool we reviewed to include Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera. A free version, Linkscanner Lite, is only available for Internet Explorer, although a Firefox version is promised. Linkscanner is the brainchild of veteran antivirus researcher Roger Thompson, and rather than rely on database information, it takes a live snapshot of the health of any given Web site as it loads, quickly identifying sites that have been altered by criminal hackers via cross-site scripting attacks, such as the 2007 Super Bowl Web site. For blocking malicious code from entering your brwoser, Linkscanner is excellent, however, we found it doesn't always identify ordinary, nonexploit-related phishing and fraud sites with such zeal.
We had no trouble installing Linkscanner Pro. Unlike the free Netcraft toolbar and SiteAdvisor, Linkscanner Pro works in the background, identifying Web site content independent of which Internet browser you use. Unlike SiteAdvisor and the Netcraft toolbar, Linkscanner Pro has its own interface. There's a tab to cut and paste suspicious URLs--handy for ferreting out e-mail phishing attacks. There's a tab that displays all active Internet services on your computer--handy for spotting spyware. There are tabs for exploits prevented and exploit sites blocked (that is, sites hosting the exploit code).
Unlike the Netcraft toolbar, which only detects suspected phishing sites, Linkscanner Pro and SiteAdvisor display their safety ratings over your current Internet search result page when using Google, Yahoo, or Live.com, but not Ask or A9. While Linkscanner Pro and SiteAdvisor generally agreed, we did find more than one legitimate Web site that Linkscanner Pro identified as suspicious that SiteAdvisor did not flag.
One defaced Web site is a Massachusetts-based restaurant Web site infected with a malicious Trojan. When viewing the source of the page, the hacker-added iframe script appears at the very bottom, calling out to a site in Korea known to host malicious code. Linkscanner blocked only the iframe code and otherwise allowed us access to the legitimate site. SiteAdvisor, both free and paid, allowed us to access the legitimate site without so much as a warning. Clicking the SiteAdvisor detailed explanation reveals that the site was checked and marked safe for browsing within the SiteAdvisor database. Neither Netcraft toolbar nor the antiphishing protection in Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7 blocked our access to this site.
Another legitimate site is an adult-content site hosted in a foreign country; it currently hosts a malicious WMF file. With the free version of SiteAdvisor enabled in Firefox 2, we were allowed to visit the site, and we were even prompted to install the malicious WMF file. With the paid version of SiteAdvisor Plus on Internet Explorer 7, both the site and the file were blocked. Linkscanner Pro also blocked access and called out the specific threats on the page. Again, the Netcraft toolbar nor the antiphishing protection in Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7 blocked our access to this site.
But Linkscanner Pro failed to identify the ordinary, nonexploit-related phishing sites we visited. Using 10 sites recently reported to a reputable, independent phish-tracking site, we found that the premium SiteAdvisor Plus identified and blocked access to all 10 sites, tied with the free Netcraft toolbar; next best tools were Linkscanner Pro and Firefox 2, each identifying or blocking access to 7 suspected phishing sites; they were followed by Internet Explorer 7 with an abysmal 5, or half the sites visited. The free edition of McAfee SiteAdvisor gave us inconsistent results over the five days we tested it, so it was not ranked. In general, we found that IE 7 (at the bottom of our results pile) consistently failed to catch phishing sites less than one hour old, although IE 7 caught all phishing sites known for at least one hour or more. Most phishing sites are removed after their initial 72 hours.
The Exploit Prevention Labs site provides a helpful FAQ page, a user guide, and contact information for both the free and paid versions of Linkscanner. E-mail is answered within two business days. There is no telephone support.
In general, we were pleased with Linkscanner Pro's support for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera, with its configurability, and with its protection against malicious code downloads. We were surprised at how common such downloads are. Still, we'd like to see Linkscanner Pro deliver better antiphishing protection.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
User Rating: 
2/10
This latest version sucks!!
Pros: Nothing at all because it doesn't work anywhere near as good as the old Version.
Cons: It just doesn't perform anything like the Linkscanner Pro version that has been discontinued... I believe it may conflict with my firewall...something the old version never did.
I had no choice but to uninstall it...
My advise is to use, WOT or McAfee Site Advisor until AVG fix the problems
User Rating: 
9/10
It's a trusted part of my defense arsenal.
Pros: Lightweight, unobtrusive, real-time protection.
Cons: None so far..
Along with several Firefox security extensions I use including NoScript, LinkScanner Pro helps fill the security gaps.
And now that the LinkScanner technology is integrated into the upcoming AVG version 8.0, that product will be much improved.
User Rating: 
1/10
System killed.
Pros: Just happy I could eventually boot again.
Cons: Killed my solid windows XP Pro system.
User Rating: 
4/10
Don't Need It
Pros: Overlays the search results and blocks known exploits
Cons: Conflicts with many security programs and has some bugs
CONS:The interface needs an upgrade.Slow at analyzing search results.Doesn't catch all the exploits that are on the web.Doesn't catch any phising websites.Many innocent website get marked as yellow.Conflicts with many security suites.
CONCLUSION:Linkscanner pro catches all known exploits but really don't waste your money on this program.A genuine antivirus, antispyware and firewall and does a much better job at blocking exploits and hackers than Linkscanner pro.Then there are also some free tools like Siteadvisor, Wot(Firefox only) and the free version of linkscanner which can help identify exploits in search results.
User Rating: 1/10
Very bad product
Pros: None, PC hangs-up after installation.
Cons: Very very bad product
Hox is it possible to release this kind of evil behaving product ...
Need to go through registry editing and manual file rmeoval to get off the PC hang up.
DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT.
User Rating: 9/10
Wouldn't surf the net without it!!!
Pros: Almost perfect
Cons: It installed a third party program that changed the network configurations in my download manager and I could no longer download anything.
Also, as a "safety net" (pun intended) I feel more secure running another link monitoring program along with LinkScanner Pro.
I found a freebie... CallingID Toolbar and CallingID Link Advisor. They've received a very impressive amount awards and I personally prefer it to Netcaster and SiteAdvisor, both of which I've used in the past.
I just installed the newest version (2.6.2) and find the program to be even better than before.
Also...I'd like to add, at this time, that their technical support is superb!!! Using easy to understand, step-by-step instructions, and not give up until the problem (if any) is corrected.
User Rating: 2/10
Don't Get This Product
Pros: Blocks and monitors For exploits
Cons: Conflicted with many security programs
User Rating: 9/10
perfect protection against bad sites & malicious stuff!!
Pros: Goes great with McAfee Site Advisor & TrendSecurity
Cons: slowed my programs during start by about a minute
so I have all my phishing security covered w/ these 3 reliable tools! I'm very happy & relieved.
User Rating: 
10/10
Amazing Security product
Pros: Best on market for Anti Exploit protection
Cons: Could improve their anti phishing scanning
User Rating: 10/10
Good program.
Pros: Works well with XP OS and I.E. 7
Cons: None to report at this time.
User Rating: 
5/10
Registers fale positives in my antivirus?
Pros: Sounds like a great program
Cons: Wouldn't let me install
User Rating: 9/10
Great product, stopped drive-by download, now flags search results too!
Pros: Stops malicious downloads and flags search results for risk. Scanner is transparent, user-friendly, and "plays nicely" with other security & system software. V 2.5 is just out of the box.
Cons: None so far.
User Rating: 
3/10
Reserving Judgment
Pros: Excellent reviews
Cons: Crashed Firefox; couldn't uninstall it
When I tried to uninstall the program I was unable to do so, getting an error message instead.
Still waiting to hear from Exploit Lab's Help Desk. I hope the company's name isn't indicative of anything.
User Rating: 9/10
A permanent part of my PCs now
Pros: Real-time scan and blocking.
Cons: Wish I had installed on it on my kids computer sooner...
User Rating: 10/10
works like a charm
Pros: let's me know if a site is safe before I visit and it's super fast too. I wouldn't surf the web without it.
Cons: no complaints, works great
User Rating: 
6/10
A good safe surfing tools ,but some of the reports of the websites shown by it are lack of accuracy.
Pros: It provides real-time analysis of web site content to stop malicious content automatically.
Cons: Some of the reports of the websites shown by it are lack of accuracy
User Rating: 
7/10
its a nice addition
Pros: runs quietly
Cons: costs too much
User Rating: 
8/10
helpful & easy
Pros: easy to use -- doesn't cause problems!
Cons: should be in my security suiet
