Typosquatting What is it, what is it for and how to avoid this type of computer attack?

We have all misspelled a website address at some point. so it is very likely that in most cases it will come out that this does not exist. But, there have also been times when the site does load and we immediately realize that there is an error, because the information that appears is totally different from what we are used to seeing.

In general, these are usually potentially dangerous, since they are used by hackers to extract user data. Data that is highly personal and can be harmful in the wrong hands.

If something similar has ever happened to you, you need to inform yourself so that avoid at all costs adverse situations in your Internet browsing. For that we have prepared this entry, which develops some of the most outstanding questions on this topic.

What is typosquatting and what are these computer attacks for?

It is nothing more than a typographical error and one of the many resources used by cybercriminals or hackers in order to obtain benefits from many victims. These types of computer attacks usually occur due to user negligence. by entering the addresses of the web pages they visit.

As they make use of these mistakes, what they do is buy domain names similar to the pages most visited by users. A clear example can be Facebookand a potential direction for typosquatting would be “facebook.com” either “facebook.com”.

In these erroneous addresses, the hacker can implement any number of strategies to obtain different benefits at the expense of their victims. If we are talking about the social network Facebook, the criminal can clone the real page and thus obtain certain information.

With this, the hacker can do many harmful things that we will see in the risks of typosquatting. Another advantage that the delinquent can also take advantage of is placing many advertisements in that direction. This allows you to monetize the site and earn money according to the users’ margin of error, which will be higher if it is a highly searched website like Facebook.

What are the main risks of being a victim of typosquatting?

In general, the information that the cybercriminal obtains when successfully implementing typosquatting is very valuable, so this generates a great risk for those users who are victims of this type of attack:

Virus

Entering these pages can be very dangerous, since in just a few seconds it can be downloaded to our computer, without our consent and much less without knowledge, a computer virus.

Because these computer viruses in most cases come specialized in motion tracking to capture vital user information. Among this information is the data of the bank accounts, which can be used later to empty them without remorse.

scams

A cybercriminal can cleverly replicate all the information on a sales website and present it as legitimate at another fake address. To give a quick example, a customer can make the mistake of wanting to enter ebay.com and enters ebau.com, it is there where it can make a false purchase in which the money would go directly to the account designated by the hacker.

Bullying

Just as it is possible to replicate sales web pages, It is also possible to do it with social networks. A person can log in to “Instagran.com” instead of Instagram.comwhich can generate harassment in your real account, since the hacker would have the legitimate data to enter your account and see all your information.

manipulations

Manipulation and extortion are very common risks derived from harassment and computer viruses. The typosquatter can use the information obtained to request money from the victim in exchange for hide any data found in your profile.

Even the hacker could also persuade the owners of the original page so that they buy the fake domain and thus avoid bad times for their legitimate customers.

Can a website be reported for being considered typosquatting?

When suffering an attack of this type, a complaint can be filed with the respective special intelligence bodies for these situations. But, What should really be reported is the specific crime that has been suffered, because typosquatting is used for different purposes, some more harmful than others:

• Digital identity theft (phishing).
• Bank account fraud.
• Illegal data collection.
• Extortion and harassment of all kinds.

The complaint is made in this way because as such it is not recognized as a crime. Well, anyone can buy a domain with a name similar to a recognized brand and not harm anyone with the information on it.

If you want to report typosquatting as such, then it is best to present the case to the original affected brand. Since this if you can file a complaint alleging that your brand is suffering from intellectual property attacks. These complaints are usually filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Tips to avoid being a victim of typosquatting and navigate more safely

Because typosquatting only happens when we as users make a mistake, there are different reliable methods that will allow us to completely avoid falling into this class of errors.

Take a good look at the domains you write

It is important that When writing the address of a website, do so with caution. without modifying any letter. Although it seems insignificant, this simple practice can avoid uncomfortable situations.

After having loaded the page, it is important to verify that before the address appears “https”, here we will realize that it is a safe address. Most of the official or verified pages have this security protocol active, which allows us to make sure that we are in the right direction:

• To know if a site is legitimate we can see the closed padlock icon at the top left of the screen, just before the page address.

• If we do click on the padlock we will see if the connection is secure or insecure.

Use the bookmarks

One way to not make a mistake when entering a website is to simply enter from the bookmarks. this is so much easier if it is a website that we visit very often.

To enter by bookmarks you just have to open a new tab in any browser and select the icon of any of the sites that are in quick access.

Put the most visited posts in favorites

We can also save in favorites those websites that we visit the most throughout the day, as well as we are facilitating access to them:

• To do so, you must have the page previously open and click on the star Button, located in the upper right corner of the search bar.

• With this we get that, when opening a new tab, the website saved as a favorite appears at the top as a shortcut.

Don’t trust autocomplete

The Autocomplete is an excellent tool and can be very useful to finish typing tedious web addresses. But, it is very important that after this function is activated we Let’s check if the address is filled in correctly.

More than anything if we are on a computer that is not ours, such as in a laboratory. Well, we don’t know if before us some user made a mistake by placing the same address and the autocomplete saved the wrong address.