Stop False Security
Flags From Costing
You Customers

A false positive is when a security vendor — such as Google Safe Browsing, Fortinet FortiGuard, Sophos, or Kaspersky — incorrectly classifies your legitimate domain as malicious, phishing, or spam. This triggers browser warnings in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, firewall blocks in corporate networks, and email spam filtering. It happens to entirely legitimate businesses all the time, often without any prior warning.

The most common causes are: a hacked plugin or injected script on your website, your domain sharing a hosting IP with flagged content, a phishing report that incorrectly cited your domain, your IP block having historical threat associations from a previous tenant, or automated classification algorithms misidentifying legitimate content as phishing. In many cases, site owners did nothing wrong — the vendor's algorithm simply made a mistake.

A domain blacklist (also called URL blacklist or web blacklist) blocks your website in browsers and firewalls — visitors see a red warning screen or cannot access the site at all. An email blacklist (like Spamhaus or Barracuda) blocks your emails from reaching inboxes. They are maintained by different vendors with completely different delisting processes. BrandsDefender handles domain/URL blacklists across 87 security vendors.

Google Safe Browsing feeds into Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Android simultaneously. A flag means visitors to your website see a full-page red warning saying "Deceptive site ahead." Most visitors leave immediately. Additionally, Google Ads campaigns can be suspended, Google Search rankings drop, and corporate firewalls that use Safe Browsing data will block your domain entirely.

VirusTotal aggregates results from 70+ security engines. Even a single vendor flag signals to security teams and automated systems that your domain may be malicious. Enterprise firewalls often block domains with even one positive detection. The problem can also cascade: other vendors may start flagging your domain after seeing the initial detection on VirusTotal.

Yes, substantially. E-commerce sites typically see 40-80% traffic drops within hours of a Google Safe Browsing flag. SaaS companies lose enterprise customers whose corporate firewalls block the application. Ad campaigns get suspended. Email deliverability degrades. The longer the flag stays active, the harder it becomes to recover lost customers and rankings.

It varies by vendor. Google Safe Browsing typically responds within 24-72 hours. Fortinet FortiGuard and Sophos usually resolve within 48-72 hours. Bitdefender averages 1-3 business days. Kaspersky and ESET can take up to 5-7 days for complex cases. Our average resolution time across all 87 vendors is 48 hours.

You can, but each vendor has a different submission portal, different evidence requirements, and different response paths. Google requires Search Console verification. Fortinet uses a web categorization form. Kaspersky requires specific log formats. The processes are not standardized, and incorrect submissions get rejected or deprioritized.

You need to verify ownership in Google Search Console, identify the flagged URLs in the Security Issues panel, fix any actual issues (or document why it is a false positive), then submit a review request with a clear, specific explanation of what was wrong and what changed. Google reviews phishing flags within 24 hours and malware flags within 2-3 days.

Bitdefender uses a false positive submission form. You need to provide the flagged URL, explain why you believe the classification is incorrect, and include evidence such as scan results from other vendors showing your site as clean. Response time is typically 1-3 business days, but rejections can extend the process significantly.

Fortinet has a URL rating submission page where you request re-categorization. You need to select the correct current (wrong) category and proposed (correct) category. FortiGuard reviews typically take 24-72 hours. Rejections require re-submission with additional evidence, and their support escalation paths are not publicly documented.

Kaspersky accepts false positive reports through their threat intelligence portal. You typically need to provide the domain, a description of your website purpose, and evidence that the flagged content is legitimate. Kaspersky is known for thorough manual reviews, which means response times of 5-7 days are common.

ESET uses an online form for reporting false positives. You submit the URL along with a brief description. Their team manually reviews submissions. Response time averages 3-7 business days. ESET is generally responsive to legitimate false positive reports but rarely provides detailed feedback on decisions.

If the same security vendor re-flags your domain within 30 days of confirmed removal and nothing changed on your side, we handle the re-submission at no extra charge. Re-flagging can happen when automated crawlers re-visit your domain. We treat these as continuations of the original case.

Evidence requirements vary by vendor but typically include: proof of domain ownership, a clean site scan (we generate this), explanation of your legitimate business purpose, documentation of any remediation steps taken, and sometimes historical compliance records. We prepare the complete evidence package for each vendor's specific requirements.

Our monitoring system checks your domains against all 87 security vendor databases on a continuous cycle. When any vendor changes your domain's classification to malicious, phishing, or suspicious, we detect it immediately and alert you. Early detection is critical because the longer a flag persists, the more likely it is to propagate to other vendors.

Monitoring tools only tell you there's a problem — they don't fix it. Many services will alert you when your domain is flagged, but then you're on your own to figure out which vendor flagged you, find their submission portal, prepare the right evidence format, submit, wait, follow up, and escalate if rejected. BrandsDefender does both: we detect the flag AND handle the entire delisting process.

Key preventive measures include: keeping CMS and plugins updated, using a reputable hosting provider with clean IP ranges, implementing Content Security Policy headers, monitoring third-party scripts loaded on your site, using HTTPS everywhere, setting up Google Search Console alerts, and regularly scanning your site for injected content. Our subscription plans include continuous monitoring that catches flags before they spread.

Yes. Each monitored domain includes all active subdomains. Security vendors often flag specific subdomains rather than the apex domain, so monitoring only your root domain would miss many detections. Our system discovers and monitors active subdomains automatically.

We handle delisting from 87 security vendor databases including Google Safe Browsing, VirusTotal, Fortinet FortiGuard, Sophos, Kaspersky, ESET, Bitdefender, Webroot BrightCloud, McAfee WebAdvisor, Symantec/Broadcom, Cisco Talos, PhishTank, URLhaus, Netcraft, Sucuri SiteCheck, Avira, MalwarePatrol, OpenPhish, and many more used by browsers, enterprise firewalls, antivirus products, and ISPs worldwide.

For subscription plans, case credits are only consumed on confirmed successful delistings. For the One-Time Case option, you only pay when we achieve the blacklist removal. If a security vendor refuses to delist despite our best efforts, you don't pay for that case. We have a 98% success rate, so failures are rare — but when they happen, you owe nothing.

Yes. The Business plan covers up to 15 domains and the Enterprise plan covers up to 200. All domains receive continuous monitoring across all 87 vendors. Need something in between? Contact us — we build custom arrangements for specific portfolio sizes.

None whatsoever. You provide your domain name during onboarding and we handle everything else — monitoring, detection, false positive dispute submission, vendor follow-up, and removal confirmation. You receive plain-language email alerts throughout the process. Our portal shows status at a glance.

Free tools like Sucuri SiteCheck, VirusTotal, or MXToolbox only scan your domain — they report the problem but don't solve it. BrandsDefender provides continuous monitoring plus active delisting when a flag is detected. We know the right submission process, evidence format, and escalation path for each vendor. Free tools give you a diagnosis; we provide the cure.

Yes. Hosting providers, advertising networks, affiliate programs, and security companies can integrate our monitoring and delisting via REST API. You set your own pricing and keep your branding. We offer sandbox environments for testing and webhook notifications for real-time status updates.

If you exhaust your monthly case credits, additional cases are billed at the per-case rate for your plan tier. Business plan extra cases cost less per case than Starter plan extras. You are always notified before additional charges apply. Unused credits do not roll over.

Yes, you can cancel or downgrade at any time. Your monitoring and service continue through the end of the current billing period. Active cases in progress will be completed regardless of cancellation — we never leave a case unfinished.

No long-term contracts. All plans are month-to-month. The One-Time Case option has no subscription at all — you pay only when a specific case is resolved. Enterprise plans can optionally include annual billing with a discount.