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But with an accurate web reputation source fueling your URL filter, firewall solution, or other network appliance, businesses can rest assured that they’re well on their way to a resilient, proactive cybersecurity posture. The algorithms used to analyze the relationships between internet objects and determine web reputations must be continually trained by experienced human analysts, and the data they use must be continually refreshed. The most important thing about any web reputation service is accuracy, which is usually determined by the breadth, depth, and variety of the data being used. To improve their reputations after being hijacked, benign objects will need to remain clean and unaffiliated with dangerous internet objects for several months or more. By association, the other sites linked to that domain may also see these consequences in their own reputations. In the case that a harmless domain gets hijacked to host a malicious website, then the domain’s reputation score will suffer. And, just like with people, if an internet object is associated with a bad crowd that’s known for stealing information and spreading malware, then the object itself is probably bad too. From websites to files to apps and beyond, there’s a history for each internet object, how it has behaved over time, and what relationships it has with other objects. Just like people, everything on the internet has a reputation.
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