The practice of registering domain names that are slight misspellings or visual imitations of popular websites (e.g., "gogle.com" or "arnazon.com") to capture traffic from users who make typing errors.
The practice of registering domain names that are slight misspellings or visual imitations of popular websites (e.g., "gogle.com" or "arnazon.com") to capture traffic from users who make typing errors.
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Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, exploits the inevitable typing mistakes people make when entering web addresses. Attackers register domains with common misspellings, missing letters, or similar-looking characters of popular websites.
These fake domains host phishing pages, malware downloads, or advertising that generates revenue from misdirected traffic. Some typosquat domains are so convincing that victims don't realize they're on the wrong site even after entering their credentials.
A related technique called homograph attacks uses Unicode characters that look identical to Latin letters (e.g., using Cyrillic "а" instead of Latin "a") to create domain names that appear identical to the naked eye.
Security researchers found over 550 typosquat domains targeting Amazon alone, including variations like "amaozn.com," "amazno.com," and "amazon-shop.com." Many hosted phishing pages that perfectly replicated Amazon's login page.