When surfing the Internet, we can encounter many threats that will put our security and privacy at risk. There are many factors that will influence. However, there are certain elements that can put us at greater risk. In this post, we are going to talk about why old links can become a problem. We will give some tips on how to keep computers protected.
An old link can be a problem
Whenever we browse, we find many links to access websites. For example, we can arrive at a page that has links that take us to a specific product, a forum, or a different section. The question is that these links may be broken. Error codes such as 404 may appear and not reach the destination.
This usually occurs when we enter a neglected, usually outdated, website. Since, it typically maintains old links that no longer exist. Basically, it was something that once worked. But nowadays, that website has disappeared or has changed the URL without anyone having modified it.
A Harvard study has shown that there are many links pointing to URLs that are decades old. Many of them no longer exist, but the links are still there. Websites close down, change ownership, change names… Unfortunately, this can be a major security problem.
The problem comes when we enter one of these broken, old links and end up on a page that has nothing to do with it. Think, for example, of a website that leads to another for more information. This second page stopped working years ago. But nowadays, a hacker has bought that domain precisely to take advantage of the links that are placed on many other sites.
But it can also be a problem in terms of losing credibility or even valuable information. For example, an academic website may have a link to an old source, from which it collected information, but that is no longer available. That makes it lose credibility.
How to avoid problems with these links
If we think about security, it is essential to avoid problems when clicking on this type of links and end up in malicious sites. We must always keep our common sense and observe very well where we are entering. You should never log in to an untrusted page, where you cannot check if it is really trustworthy.
To avoid problems, it is also a good idea to have everything updated and to have security programs. On the one hand, you will be able to correct certain vulnerabilities that may appear. On the other hand, these security programs will detect the entry of malware and will help you to eliminate viruses.
But there is also the problem of links becoming unavailable and affecting the credibility of the sources. What could be the solution to this? One of the solutions is Wayback Machine, which is used to see what a web page looked like at a certain point. There we can find old articles, for example. Nevertheless, another option is what Harvard has come up with by creating perma.cc, which allows you to capture permanent versions of websites.
In short, as you can see, old links can be a problem. On the one hand, it can seriously compromise security. But it could also affect the reputation of a site and lose credibility. Bye!
