What is TrustLink-VerificationAgent?

TrustLink-VerificationAgent is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Pearl Industry Network LLC.

Bot name
TrustLink-VerificationAgent
Operator
Pearl Industry Network LLC
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
TrustLink-VerificationAgent
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
Yes

About TrustLink-VerificationAgent

Verification agent that confirms social account ownership by checking for a user-placed public verification code.

Security scanners probe sites for vulnerabilities, certificates and exposed services. Some are research projects, some are vendors you hired. Allow your own scanners and block the rest at the WAF.

TrustLink-VerificationAgent user agent

TrustLink-VerificationAgent identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • TrustLink-VerificationAgent/1.0.0 (+https://cdn.trustlink360.com/agents/verification-agent.md)

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block TrustLink-VerificationAgent in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether TrustLink-VerificationAgent follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block TrustLink-VerificationAgent from the whole site

User-agent: TrustLink-VerificationAgent
Disallow: /

Block TrustLink-VerificationAgent from some folders

User-agent: TrustLink-VerificationAgent
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow TrustLink-VerificationAgent only on some folders

User-agent: TrustLink-VerificationAgent
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow TrustLink-VerificationAgent and block other crawlers

User-agent: TrustLink-VerificationAgent
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: TrustLink-VerificationAgent group, TrustLink-VerificationAgent ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take TrustLink-VerificationAgent from TrustLink-VerificationAgent's user agent; check Pearl Industry Network LLC's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. TrustLink-VerificationAgent may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that TrustLink-VerificationAgent follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send TrustLink-VerificationAgent's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Pearl Industry Network LLC's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real TrustLink-VerificationAgent from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about TrustLink-VerificationAgent

Publishers

Allow TrustLink-VerificationAgent if it is a service you use, and keep its visits out of page views and ad requests either way.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

TrustLink-VerificationAgent is not a person. Exclude it from campaign and conversion data so reports reflect real visitors.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Allow TrustLink-VerificationAgent only if it works for your store, and keep it away from cart and checkout.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

If TrustLink-VerificationAgent is a service you use, allow it on the endpoints it needs and block it elsewhere.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block TrustLink-VerificationAgent with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows TrustLink-VerificationAgent by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control TrustLink-VerificationAgent on your site

  • See every TrustLink-VerificationAgent visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit TrustLink-VerificationAgent with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is TrustLink-VerificationAgent?

TrustLink-VerificationAgent is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by Pearl Industry Network LLC. Verification agent that confirms social account ownership by checking for a user-placed public verification code.

Does TrustLink-VerificationAgent respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether TrustLink-VerificationAgent follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block TrustLink-VerificationAgent?

Add "User-agent: TrustLink-VerificationAgent" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "TrustLink-VerificationAgent" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block TrustLink-VerificationAgent?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so TrustLink-VerificationAgent may not follow it, and anyone can send TrustLink-VerificationAgent's user agent, so a fake TrustLink-VerificationAgent ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block TrustLink-VerificationAgent?

Security scanners probe sites for vulnerabilities, certificates and exposed services. Some are research projects, some are vendors you hired. Allow your own scanners and block the rest at the WAF.

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Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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