Is psiphon.news safe?

suspiciouslow confidence
40/100

context safety score

A score of 40/100 indicates multiple risk signals were detected. This entity shows patterns commonly associated with malicious intent.

identity
100
behavior
80
content
0
graph
30

9 threat patterns detected

medium

malicious redirect

script/meta redirect patterns detected in page source

medium

cloaking

Page uses meta refresh redirect

critical

malicious redirect

Both JavaScript and noscript meta-refresh immediately redirect all visitors to '/facebook.ir' — a path strongly suggesting impersonation of Facebook targeting Iranian users (.ir = Iran ccTLD). The redirect is unconditional and fires on page load with no user interaction required. (location: page.html:43-47 (noscript meta refresh and window.location.replace))

critical

brand impersonation

The redirect destination '/facebook.ir' combines the Facebook brand name with the Iranian country-code TLD (.ir), a classic pattern used to impersonate Facebook for credential harvesting or phishing campaigns targeting Persian/Iranian-speaking users. The site presents itself as 'Psiphon News' (a legitimate circumvention tool brand) while silently redirecting to a Facebook-impersonation endpoint. (location: page.html:43-47)

high

brand impersonation

The site leverages the Psiphon brand (psiphon.ca is the legitimate Psiphon project) — including its logo and a link to psiphon.ca — to appear as an official Psiphon news outlet, lending false legitimacy to the page and increasing user trust before redirection. (location: page.html:51 (footer logo linking to psiphon.ca))

critical

phishing

The combination of Psiphon brand impersonation, targeting of a population that uses circumvention tools (likely users in censored-internet regions such as Iran), and immediate redirect to a Facebook-lookalike path (/facebook.ir) forms a complete phishing kill chain designed to harvest Facebook credentials from high-risk users. (location: page.html:43-47, page.html:51)

critical

credential harvesting

The redirect to '/facebook.ir' is consistent with a credential-harvesting landing page that mimics Facebook's login interface. Users trusting the Psiphon brand would be redirected without consent and likely prompted to enter Facebook credentials on a spoofed page. (location: page.html:46 (window.location.replace('/facebook.ir')))

high

hidden content

A tracking pixel fires silently to 'https://ipfounder.net/1x1.gif' when a 'landed' URL parameter is present, exfiltrating visit/tracking data to a third-party domain (ipfounder.net) with no disclosure to the user. This is consistent with affiliate fraud tracking or covert visitor profiling infrastructure. (location: page.html:21-26 (XMLHttpRequest to ipfounder.net))

high

social engineering

The page is designed to appear as a legitimate news portal associated with Psiphon — a tool trusted by users in repressive internet environments — exploiting that trust to lower suspicion before executing the silent redirect. The visible footer with Psiphon branding and a 'Privacy Policy' link reinforces false legitimacy. (location: page.html:50-54 (footer with Psiphon logo and Privacy Policy link))

API

curl https://api.brin.sh/domain/psiphon.news

FAQ: how to interpret this assessment

Common questions teams ask before deciding whether to use this domain in agent workflows.

Is psiphon.news safe for AI agents to use?

psiphon.news currently scores 40/100 with a suspicious verdict and low confidence. The goal is to protect agents from high-risk context before they act on it. Treat this as a decision signal: higher scores suggest lower observed risk, while lower scores mean you should add review or block this domain.

How should I interpret the score and verdict?

Use the score as a policy threshold: 80–100 is safe, 50–79 is caution, 20–49 is suspicious, and 0–19 is dangerous. Teams often auto-allow safe, require human review for caution/suspicious, and block dangerous.

How does brin compute this domain score?

brin evaluates four dimensions: identity (source trust), behavior (runtime patterns), content (malicious instructions), and graph (relationship risk). Analysis runs in tiers: static signals, deterministic pattern checks, then AI semantic analysis when needed.

What do identity, behavior, content, and graph mean for this domain?

Identity checks source trust, behavior checks unusual runtime patterns, content checks for malicious instructions, and graph checks risky relationships to other entities. Looking at sub-scores helps you understand why an entity passed or failed.

Why does brin scan packages, repos, skills, MCP servers, pages, and commits?

brin performs risk assessments on external context before it reaches an AI agent. It scores that context for threats like prompt injection, hijacking, credential harvesting, and supply chain attacks, so teams can decide whether to block, review, or proceed safely.

Can I rely on a safe verdict as a full security guarantee?

No. A safe verdict means no significant risk signals were detected in this scan. It is not a formal guarantee; assessments are automated and point-in-time, so combine scores with your own controls and periodic re-checks.

When should I re-check before using an entity?

Re-check before high-impact actions such as installs, upgrades, connecting MCP servers, executing remote code, or granting secrets. Use the API in CI or runtime gates so decisions are based on the latest scan.

Learn more in threat detection docs, how scoring works, and the API overview.

Last Scanned

March 4, 2026

Verdict Scale

safe80–100
caution50–79
suspicious20–49
dangerous0–19

Disclaimer

Assessments are automated and may contain errors. Findings are risk indicators, not confirmed threats. This is a point-in-time assessment; security posture can change.

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