We check for "page not found" errors
Typically when someone requests a webpage, if the page is available the response code is a 200. If the requested webpage is not there, for instance, if someone mistyped the webpage, then a response code of 404 or "page not found" is generated. Often times, websites are configured to redirect to the home page or some other predetermined webpage, if a "page not found" error is encountered. This is to make the visitors experience less distracting.

Cybercriminals like to embed their infectious code in the files returned by a 404 error because mistyped webpages are quite common. This also makes their malscript more difficult to detect because unless the mistyped webpage is in the list of indexed pages, it may be awhile before it's detected.

We test various non-existing webpages for our client's websites to be sure we catch these types of infections.

We Watch Your Website also checks for redirects. These redirects generate a 300 response code. Often times cybercriminals will inject some malicious redirect code in an .htaccess file. We've had cases where the hosting provider couldn't find the malicious code identified by Google. Our service, utilizing our techniques and methods, found it instantly.

Many other services don't check for redirects or for that matter, they don't check "page not found" responses either.

We Watch Your Website likes to be complete. We think you'll agree - it's the better way.

 

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