Typosquatting
| Typosquatting is a malicious activity of scamming people on counterfeit websites with misspelled URLs. For example, a typosquatter might register the domain name "Googles.com" in the hope that someone will mistype the name of the popular search engine as "www.googles.com". When a user visits the fake site, the typosquatter can attempt to install malware on their computer or redirect them to a different website. Typosquatting is a form of cybercrime that relies on users making mistakes when typing in a web address. Also known as “URL hijacking,” “typosquatters” register domain names that are similar to popular websites, but with slight misspellings. They do this in the hope that users will mistype the name of a website and be taken to their fake site instead. For example, a typosquatter might register the domain name “Googles.com” in the hope that someone will mistype the name of the popular search engine as “www.googles.com”. When a user visits the fake site, the typosquatter can attempt to install malware on their computer or redirect them to a different website. Typosquatting is a serious problem because it can lead to users accidentally giving their personal information to cybercriminals. It can also result in users downloading malware onto their computers. To protect yourself from typosquatting, you should always double-check the web address before you enter it into your browser. You should also use an antivirus program and a firewall to protect your computer from malware. |
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