More than a decade after typosquatting became an Internet hazard, criminals and opportunists are still abusing misspelled domains on a scale that is leaving users and businesses out of pocket, consultancy High-Tech Bridge has found.
The company used its ImmuniWeb SaaS Phishing system to analyze 946 "typo" domains that were close but not identical to legitimate domains used by ten well-known antivirus firms; for example, entering "kasperski.com" or "mcaffee.com."
Of these, High-Tech Bridge detected 385 domains that appeared to be attempting to pass themselves off as one of these domains; just over 40 percent, or 164, turned out to be in some way fraudulent (such as redirecting to phishing sites, or displaying ads for bogus products and services). A further 73 were simply being squatted, presumably in the hope that one of the affected firms might buy them at some point.
Interestingly, 107 had been registered by the antivirus firms themselves to avoid abuse, leaving only 41 being used by firms that happened to have a legitimate brand or trademark that could be confused with one of the firms.
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