Has My Domain Been Spoofed was create to allow system admins, users, owners, or anyone to search all registered domain names under the Top Level Domain (“TLD”) of “.com” to search for look-alike domains.
The searches are conducted using a distance algorithm. The algorithm measure the distance or changes from one domain name to the next. For example:
- CONAGRA as compared to C0NAGRA would have one change and thus a distance of one (1); the change being the “O” changed to a zero “0”.
- CONAGRA as compared to C0MAGRA would have a distance of 2.
Millions of domain names are registered each day; many are registered each day to look very similar to other domains. These look-alike domains are sometimes legitimate companies, but oftentimes they are fraudsters attempting to imitate or spoof another domain. The attempts are usually to trick a user to click on a link to download malware, or to engage in a Business Email Compromise (“BEC”) scheme. The FBI has a great explanation of how a BEC scheme is perpetrated here.
Knowing what look-alike domains are present can help to:
- Educate and warn your employees;
- Educate and warn your clients, customers, or vendors;
- Add filtering rules to your firewall or email filters;
- Provide notice to financial institutions about possible fraud attempts; and
- Save your company money by proactively preventing attacks and frauds before they happen!
The site is free to use, but we can provide a list of look-alike domains to your inbox each morning. Imagine knowing each morning if there was an attempt to spoof your domain. Being armed with this intelligence you can proactively protect your company.
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