Cybersquatting: what it is and how to protect your company

Cybersquatting is an increasingly widespread cybercrime that leverages the value of brands to obtain illegitimate profits by occupying their domain.

Cysquatting is becoming commonplace in the digital environment, so organizations must understand cybersquatting and find ways to protect themselves against it.

What is cybersquatting?

Cybersquatting is registering, selling, or using a domain name in bad faith. It involves taking advantage of a famous brand or name’s reputation and commercial value to obtain illegitimate benefits. Essentially, cybersquatting is a form of online piracy that harms businesses and individuals.

The term comes from squatting, which is the act of illegally occupying a property, with the addition of cyber, to circumscribe it to the digital environment. In this case, the occupied property would be the corporate domain. For this reason, cybersquatting is known as a cyber occupation.

Cybersquatters often register domain names or create subdomains identical or confusingly similar to well-known trademarks to trick users into visiting their websites. In this way, users are led to fraudulent websites with various illegal intentions, such as the sale of fake items, scams, data theft, etc.

In addition, cybersquatting is often used by cybersquatters to profit from selling occupied domains to legitimate companies at exorbitant prices to prevent damage to their brands.

ICANN has developed the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to combat cybersquatting. This procedure makes it easier for affected companies to recover domain names registered in bad faith.

If you want to learn more about cyberattacks on companies, click here→ How to protect yourself amid a wave of cyberattacks on businesses.

Differences between Cybersquatting and Phishing

Although both are cybercrimes involving the misuse of names and trademarks and sometimes occur together in a cyberattack, cybersquatting and phishing are not the same thing.

Cybersquatting involves registering, trafficking, or using a domain name identical or similar to a well-known trademark. It aims to make financial gains through an identical or similar domain name. It doesn’t necessarily involve deceiving users or stealing personal information; sometimes, it’s used to force the organization to bail out that domain.

Phishing consists of sending emails or creating fake websites that imitate legitimate companies or brands to deceive users and obtain personal and financial information or login credentials. Its goal is to access accounts, steal identities, and commit fraud. It involves using social engineering techniques to manipulate victims into believing that they are interacting with a trusted entity.

However, many times, the first step in a phishing attack is cybersquatting: an actual domain is used to create a fake website or profile as the basis for the deception.

Some examples of cybersquatting

Some prominent examples of cybersquatting are:

• Registration of domain names identical or similar to well-known trademarks to resell them to their rightful owners at an excessive price.
• Using domain names to divert web traffic to sites with pornographic content, deceptive advertising, or illegal activities.
• Block domain names to prevent legitimate companies from registering and using them and to sell them to the highest bidder.
• Creating fake websites that mimic the appearance of well-known brands to deceive users and obtain personal or financial information.

Cybersquatting detection

Some of the most effective strategies for detecting cybersquatting are:

• Domain monitoring. Regular domain name monitoring is one of the most effective ways to detect cybersquatting. These tools issue real-time alerts when a domain name similar to the organization’s is registered, allowing quick action to protect the brand.
• Use of Internet Service Provider (ISP) domain search tools. The tool shows the multiple variations that could be used to commit cybersquatting. These tools also indicate which domains have already been registered.
• WHOIS search. The WHOIS database is a valuable resource for detecting cybersquatting. A WHOIS search provides information about who has registered a particular domain name. In this way, an organization can check if a domain name similar to its brand has been registered by someone who does not have a legitimate relationship with it.
• Phishing detection tools. Sometimes, cybersquatters use cybersquatting in their phishing tactics to trick users into visiting their scam websites. Phishing detection tools help identify these websites and, collaterally, detect cybersquatting.

The role of new technologies

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are starting to play a crucial role in the fight against cybersquatting. Their detection, analysis, understanding, and automation capabilities are vital to combat cybersquatting proactively, accurately, and effectively.

As cybercriminals develop more sophisticated tactics, their use will become increasingly critical.

The use of solutions based on AI and machine learning allows:

• Proactive detection of suspicious domains: Real-time detection and analysis of the registration of new domains and patterns that indicate possible cybersquatting cases, such as names similar to well-known brands.
• Constant monitoring of registered domains: Continuous monitoring of detected suspicious, brand-like domains with alerts about changes in their content or usage that may indicate fraudulent activity
• Identification of cybersquatting techniques and patterns: recognition of standard methods cybercriminals use, such as adding, substituting, or omitting characters in domain names.
• Reduction of false positives: Accurately distinguishing between legitimate domain registrations and confirmed cybersquatting cases reduces false alerts.
• Real-time automated response: activation of autoresponder protocols to block the suspicious domain, notify the authorities and the affected brand, and proceed with the takedown.

The most common methods of cybersquatting

Cybersquatting can come in different ways.

Homographic

It involves replacing characters in a domain name with visually similar ones, often indistinguishable from the naked eye.

This method is especially effective because it is difficult for the human eye to distinguish between certain characters, especially in URLs.

Addition

It involves adding extra characters to an existing domain name. It’s particularly effective when targeting brands with short names, as an additional character can easily go unnoticed.

Omissión

In this case, it refers to removing characters from an existing domain name. It is effective when targeting brands with long names since one less character goes unnoticed.

Domain change

It involves slightly altering an existing domain name, often by changing the order of characters, introducing a misspelling, or using a different domain extension than the organization’s official one. Its effectiveness is based on users’ mistakes when typing a domain in the search engine.

Subdomain

A common cybersquatting tactic is creating subdomains outside of the brand itself. A subdomain is an extension of the primary domain name.

Cybersquatters register subdomains containing the names of well-known brands to trick users and redirect traffic to fraudulent sites.

How to prevent cybersquatting

Preventing cybersquatting can be challenging, but several strategies help protect the brand and domain:

• Early domain registration. Register domain names that are important to the brand early. This can include variations, common misspellings, and other domain names that could attract cybersquatters.
• Brand protection. Registering the brand provides additional legal protection against cybersquatting. The possibility of winning a domain name dispute is assured if the brand is registered.
• Constant surveillance. Continuous domain monitoring is essential with automated tools capable of alerting about the use or registration of domains and subdomains that are the same or similar to corporate domains.
• Use of a private registration service. When registering a domain name, it is advisable to use a private registration service so that cybercriminals cannot access the information associated with the registration.
• Legal action. Immediately take appropriate legal action to recover the domain name when cybersquatting is detected. The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is the ideal process to achieve this.

ou may be interested in our post→ Brand protection: strategies to prevent fraudulent use.

Protect your company from cybersquatting through Kartos by Enthec

Kartos XTI Watchbots, our Cyber Intelligence platform, uses in-house developed Artificial Intelligence to help organizations monitor their domain and detect any associated cybersquatting.

In addition, Kartos by Enthec provides organizations with real-time alerts about the existence of domains and subdomains associated with those of their brand and offers takedown services for the removal of those that are fraudulent.

Contact us to learn more about how the capabilities of our Kartos XTI Watchbots Cyber Intelligence platform can help you detect and prevent cybersquatting, protect your brand, and avoid cyberattacks.