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Safe and responsible use

urlquery is intended for lawful defensive security research. Only submit URLs and retrieve content when you are authorized to do so.

Before submitting​

  • Remove session IDs, reset tokens, email addresses, and other personal data when possible.
  • Treat sanitize_url as a narrow, best-effort email anonymizer for known phishing URL patterns. It does not remove arbitrary tokens, query parameters, fragments, or personal data.
  • Choose restricted or private visibility when a URL should not become public.
  • Do not submit private administration links, signed cloud URLs, internal hostnames, or confidential documents to a public report.
  • Assume a public submission can be discovered, indexed, shared, and retained for operational or research purposes.

While investigating​

Do not browse suspicious infrastructure directly from your workstation. Prefer report screenshots, captured HTTP metadata, hashes, and bounded resource previews.

Treat downloaded files and scripts as untrusted. Analyze them in an isolated environment with appropriate controls.

Interpreting results​

  • Missing detections do not imply benign activity.
  • A shared IP, certificate, or technology does not prove common ownership.
  • Host Profile counts describe processed report observations, not traffic volume.
  • First-seen and last-seen times are report-derived bounds, not continuous activity.
  • A URL can change behavior by location, device, time, referrer, or visitor identity.

Removal and privacy concerns​

Use the report's Request review action or contact abuse@urlquery.net for removal, redaction, privacy, or reclassification requests.

Review the current Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before automating submissions.