What Is Typosquatting? Hackers Find A Way To Capitalize On Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making.

Typos Can Be a Big Mistake

During the course of our day, it is not surprising that we might make typos when doing work online or browsing the internet. Unfortunately, hackers are aware of this and have found a way to exploit these mistakes. 

Typosquatting

“Typosquatting” is a scheme that hackers use to take advantage of typos, specifically the spelling errors made when typing a web address into a browser. Normally when an address is spelled incorrectly, our browser lets us know that there was an error. However, with typosquatting, hackers will buy a domain name and create an address that intentionally includes common typos and will build the website to look exactly like the one a user meant to visit. For example, a hacker might purchase www.google.cm and build the site to look like www.google.com and then include malware that infects your device or code that strips personal information. 

Typosquatting can also be used to help thieves circumvent two-factor authentication, or “2FA,” as this article reveals. 

An obvious way to avoid visiting these websites is to double-check what you put into your browser. Bookmarking your favorite websites is also a good way to avoid falling victim to typosquatting. This added scrutiny will also help protect from fake news sites, which is an added bonus. 

If you have questions about how to keep yourself more secure, or you think you’ve been impacted by malware, contact our Virginia attorneys today!

Call 888-691-9319 or fill out this short form to get started. 

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