Check a URL for Phishing Threats in Node.JS

Have you ever received an email from a trusted colleague or company requesting you to click a link that looks just a little off? If so, you have likely been targeted by a phishing attack. This social engineering technique is designed to trick users into providing personal and/or confidential information via a fake website. To prevent your business or clientele from falling prey to these URLs, you can utilize the following API in Node.JS to check if an input URL is a phishing risk.

Our first step in the process is to install the API client by running this command:

npm install cloudmersive-validate-api-client –-save

Or, you can perform the installation by adding this snippet to your package.json:

"dependencies": {
    "cloudmersive-validate-api-client": "^1.3.9"
  }

Following the installation, we are all set to configure our API key and call the function with the following code:

var CloudmersiveValidateApiClient = require('cloudmersive-validate-api-client');
var defaultClient = CloudmersiveValidateApiClient.ApiClient.instance;
// Configure API key authorization: Apikey
var Apikey = defaultClient.authentications['Apikey'];
Apikey.apiKey = 'YOUR API KEY';
var apiInstance = new CloudmersiveValidateApiClient.DomainApi();
var request = new CloudmersiveValidateApiClient.PhishingCheckRequest(); // PhishingCheckRequest | Input URL request
var callback = function(error, data, response) {
  if (error) {
    console.error(error);
  } else {
    console.log('API called successfully. Returned data: ' + data);
  }
};
apiInstance.domainPhishingCheck(request, callback);

The threat level of the URL will be identified in the response, informing you whether URL is safe to interact with or should be reported as unsafe. A quick and simple process that can save you from potentially disastrous consequences.