Protect Your Clients Against Typosquatting
Misspelling a website address might seem like a harmless mistake, but attackers can use these mistakes against you to steal your login information or automatically install malicious software onto your device.
We’re all guilty of misspelling website addresses, like typing “gooogle.com” instead of “google.com.” Sometimes, you may receive an error message stating the site doesn’t exist. However, most often, attackers create fake pages that mimic the site you intended to visit to steal your information, including login credentials and credit card numbers.
It’s called typosquatting, a type of cyberattack that targets users who incorrectly type a website address into their browser.
Fortunately, there’s a way for small businesses to not only protect their clients but also increase web traffic and potential sales.
How Attackers Use Typosquatting
Attackers buy similar-looking addresses (also known as domains) of popular websites, hoping you won’t realize you went to the wrong site.
Going back to the Google example, they might buy google.biz, google.us, google.info, google.org, goggle.com or any other domains that are similar to the main site.
Sometimes these fake sites sell products or services that directly compete with the site you wanted to visit, but more often than not, they impersonate the real site to steal your personal identifiable information.
In extreme cases, these fake pages will automatically upload malicious software onto your computer or phone. You don’t even need to click a link; the download begins as soon as you visit the page.
So, how do you protect your clients from this kind of sneaky attack?
Protect Your Clients and Buy Top-level Domains
The best way is to buy the most popular top-level domains.
A top-level domain is the last part of a domain name, so in the google.com example, “.com” is the top-level domain of Google’s website.
If you’re a small business based in the United States, we recommend buying around 10 top-level domains. So, if your company’s website is “CompanyA.com,” you’ll also want to purchase:
- CompanyA.net
- CompanyA.org
- CompanyA.info
- CompanyA.biz
- CompanyA.business
- CompanyA.site
- CompanyA.us
- CompanyA.us.com
- CompanyA.co
- CompanyA.company
“Not only does buying top-level domains protect your clients and prospective clients from visiting malicious sites, but it’ll increase your web traffic, as they’ll be redirected to your legitimate website, increasing the chances for more potential sales.”
If your organization belongs to a specific industry, you’ll want to buy domains associated with that industry, so a tech company should buy the “.tech” domain, and an online shopping store should buy “.shop” or “.store.”
We don’t recommend buying every single top-level domain that exists simply because:
- There are thousands available, and at a minimum of $15 per month to buy a domain, you’re talking more than $15,000 per year, which is a lot of money for not a lot of value in protection.
- New top-level domains are released frequently, so it would be a constant battle of ensuring every single one has been purchased.
We also don’t recommend buying misspellings of domains (i.e., CopmanyA.com) simply because there are too many possibilities, and you get more value by purchasing the top-level domains rather than the misspellings.
If there is a specific domain that has been purchased for malicious intent, it’s more cost-effective to hire a brand protection service that can help you with website takedowns and copyright infringement.
Not only does buying top-level domains protect your clients and prospective clients from visiting malicious sites, but it’ll increase your web traffic, as they’ll be redirected to your legitimate website, increasing the chances for more potential sales.
Fight Against Typosquatting Attacks
Buying top-level domains is the simplest way to protect your clients from typosquatting attacks.
If you want to discuss specific domains to buy for your organization, give us a call. We can help keep your business running smoothly while increasing security, productivity and profitability.
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