How to Stop a Phishing Filter on a Website
- Date added:
- Monday, 11 April 2011
- Last revised:
- Monday, 11 April 2011
Answer
Phishing filters are popular security measures built into a number of modern web browsers to protect you against sites that are not what they purport to be--for example, a clone of an online bank that tries to get you to reveal your password or credit card number. But what happens when you're trying to get to a site you know to be legitimate, but the phishing filter is blocking it? Luckily, these filters can be overridden if you know where to look.
Instructions
Internet Explorer
- Tell Microsoft that the site is safe by clicking on "Report that this site does not contain threats" on the warning page that appears when you attempt to visit the site. Obviously, you need to be 100 percent certain that the site is safe before you do this.
- Go to "Tools," then "Internet Options" in Internet Explorer. A dialog box will pop up.
- Select the "Security" tab, click on "Trusted Sites" and then press the "Sites" button. Another dialog box will pop up.
- Uncheck the "Require server verification..." option if it exists. Type your website underneath "Add this website to the zone." Press the "Close" button when done to close the dialog box.
- Select "Custom level..." in the original dialog box. Another box will pop up; scroll down to the "Use SmartScreen Filter" (in Explorer 8) or "Use Phishing Filter" (in Explorer 7) option and select "Disable."
- Press "OK," then "OK" again to close both boxes. Close Internet Explorer and open it again for the change to go into effect.
Firefox
- Fill out the Report Incorrect Forgery Alert form (see Resources) to ask Mozilla to remove the phishing block on the site in question.
- Select "Ignore this warning" in the lower-right corner of the warning screen to access a filtered website.
- Turn off the phishing filter altogether by opening the "Tools" menu, selecting "Options," clicking on the "Security" tab and unchecking both "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries." Press "OK," but remember to be careful out there.