![]() Sites that spread disinformation often take advantage of the pace at which users skim the internet and their preferred news sources for breaking news. That buys them time to iron out any inconsistencies with their attack infrastructure, allowing them to escape detection, according to DomainTools. The bad guys also re-purpose once valid Internet real-estate, squatting on old, once-legitimate domains. Typosquatters can look legitimate, with legitimate SSL certificates and professional websites, used to trick Internet users into a false sense of security. It's particularly important, considering how frequently users misspell words, and how easy it is to fool even vigilant internet users. It's squeaky clean.)įor news consumers, the biggest threat is what's referred to as "typosquatting," according to DomainTools (registering, for example, and posting bogus posts). (Oh, and in case you're wondering - Forbes didn't make the list. This methodology gave us not only a set of online properties to investigate, but also a sense of the potential pool of the criminals’ targets." "Our team compiled a list of the top media organizations based on audience size. "We had a hunch that the media organizations with the highest readerships were likely to be more lucrative for scammers seeking to spoof domain names," says Imai. Chicago Tribune (5 historical high-risk domains)ĭomainTools chose an initial list of media organizations based on traffic to the legitimate site. The Boston Globe (6 historical high-risk domains)ġ0. USA Today (9 historical high-risk domains)Ĩ. New York Daily News (10 historical high-risk domains)ħ. Los Angeles Times (13 historical high-risk domains)Ħ. The New York Post (16 historical high-risk domains)ĥ. The Washington Post (20 historical high-risk domains)Ĥ. The New York Times (49 historical high-risk domains)ģ. Newsday (52 historical high-risk domains)Ģ. Here's the list of publishers with the most high-risk domains:ġ. The "safest" of the sites also fits the same description. The top news site, for example, is not a national newspaper or a computer-security site but has still managed to draw a record 52 "high risk" domains, according to DomainTools. What we found is that domain names of top news outlets have indeed been spoofed, and subject to typosquatting techniques."Īmong the news site rankings, there are a few surprises. "With the uptick in fake news sites in recent years, we were curious about the possible connection between typosquatting campaigns and the dissemination of disinformation. "It’s no secret that disinformation campaigns have been on the rise," Imai told me. ![]() These criminal activities can potentially extract personally identifiable information, download malware to a device, or spoof news sites to spread disinformation. Spoofing happens when a scammer pretends to be a premium publisher. Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, relies on mistakes made by Internet users when typing a website address into a web browser. So, as a consumer advocate, and as a heavy consumer of news, I follow studies like this closely.ĭomainTools' research shows how malicious actors use tricks like typosquatting and spoofing on domains as tactics to carry out malicious campaigns. Authenticity and trust are the building blocks of a terrific customer service experience.
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