What is cybersquatting? And what is the main difference between cybersquatting and typosquatting?
Cybersquatting or domain squatting is a cyberattack in which attackers try mimicking legitimate domains of major brands to deceit and annoy Internet users. Cybercriminals carefully create and register domain names that looks like existing domains or brand names and take advantage of the carelessness and mistakes users make while surfing the Internet. Furthermore, the attackers confuse the users to believe and trust that the maliciously designed domain name is authentic. Even worse, users make online payments using these fake domains and enrich the criminals. This is what cybersquatting is and it is one of the most prevalent techniques of cyberattacks and force organizations to buy their domains back from the attackers for huge sum of money.
Web scammers sometimes buy domain names that looks similar to those of legitimate organizational domains, perform illegal operations, and even make profit by reselling the domain at higher costs. Moreover, their purpose is to use the bought hostnames to stage sophisticated phishing and other social engineering campaigns and collect money illegally. Additionally, the attackers may use it to distribute malwares and other unpleasant things through the Internet. This is lucrative business for many cybercriminals and huge amount of money is stolen annually through cybersquatting.
- Type the URL and ensure that it is totally accurate and precise
- Do not open suspicious emails or never click on embedded links
- Eliminate security vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications
- Install Internet security solutions and keep it patched and updated
- Trademarking website domain
- Registering different top-levels of your domain name such as .com, .org, and so on.
Organizations can prevent cybersquatting attack by continuously taking precautions. Domain name owners should always check whether their website is a victim of cybersquatting by using tools such as Google Domain Registrar and Whois lookup. Additionally, security awareness training helps to understand the attack and protection mechanisms.