Typosquatting is a social engineering attack where threat actors register domain names that closely resemble legitimate websites. They use common typos, character substitutions, or alternative spellings to create convincing fakes. When users accidentally visit these domains, attackers harvest credentials, distribute malware, or commit financial fraud.
The attack exploits predictable human behavior. We transpose letters. We miss keystrokes. We confuse similar-looking characters. Attackers know this and register domains that capture these errors. Zscaler ThreatLabz found over 30,000 lookalike domains targeting just 500 major websites in six months. More than 10,000 were confirmed malicious. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon account for nearly 75% of all typosquatting attempts.
Most security teams discover typosquatting domains after the damage is done. By then, employee credentials are already harvested and circulating on dark web markets. Proactive monitoring detects these threats before attackers can weaponize them against your organization.
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What Is Typosquatting?
Credential Theft
Fake login pages harvest employee usernames and passwords. Attackers use stolen credentials directly or sell them on criminal marketplaces for premium prices.
Phishing Campaigns
Typosquatted domains provide convincing infrastructure for spear phishing. Links to ‘amaz0n.com’ or ‘rnicrosoft.com’ bypass casual inspection and add credibility to social engineering attacks.
Malware Distribution
Users downloading software from lookalike domains install infostealers, ransomware, or remote access trojans instead of legitimate applications.
Typosquatting Detection Trusted by Security Teams Worldwide
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Our Security Colony platform relies on Breachsense data as part of our dark web monitoring service. The data is continuously updated and high quality. Highly recommend!
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SVP Professional Services, Trustwave
We rely on Breachsense for a lot of data. Their frequent database updates, constant availability, and handling of big and small breaches alike means we are always covered.
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CTO, Hurricane Labs
Frequently Asked Questions
Typosquatting is a cyberattack where threat actors register domain names that mimic legitimate websites using common typing errors. For example, ‘gogle.com’ instead of ‘google.com’ or ‘arnazon.com’ instead of ‘amazon.com’. When users accidentally visit these fake domains, attackers steal their login credentials, install malware, or redirect them to fraudulent sites. Also called URL hijacking, typosquatting exploits predictable human typing mistakes to bypass security controls that focus on technical vulnerabilities.
Yes, typosquatting is illegal in most jurisdictions. In the United States, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) allows trademark holders to sue for damages up to $100,000 per domain. Internationally, ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) enables trademark owners to reclaim infringing domains. Facebook won a $2.8 million judgment against typosquatters using these legal frameworks. However, enforcement requires discovering the domains first, which is why continuous monitoring matters.
Protect your domain through defensive registration and continuous monitoring. Register common misspellings, character substitutions, and alternative TLDs for your primary domains before attackers do. Monitor certificate transparency logs for new SSL certificates issued to similar domains. Use external attack surface management to detect lookalike domains as they’re registered. Implement DNS filtering to block known typosquatted domains at the network level. When you find infringing domains, file UDRP complaints or pursue legal action under ACPA.
A common example is ‘rnicrosoft.com’ targeting Microsoft users. The attack replaces ’m’ with ‘rn’, which looks nearly identical in most fonts. Other techniques include ‘goggle.com’ (extra character) and ‘paypa1.com’ (number ‘1’ for letter ’l’). See our phishing domain examples for more attack patterns.
Character substitution is the most common tactic. Attackers replace letters with visually similar characters: ‘rn’ for ’m’, ‘1’ for ’l’, ‘0’ for ‘O’, or ‘vv’ for ‘w’. Other tactics include missing characters (‘gogle.com’), extra characters (‘googgle.com’), transposed letters (‘amazno.com’), wrong TLDs (‘amazon.co’ instead of ‘.com’), and homoglyph attacks using Unicode characters from different alphabets that look identical to Latin letters. Learn more about these techniques in our typosquatting guide.
Detect typosquatting through domain permutation monitoring, certificate transparency logs, and dark web intelligence. Tools like dnstwist generate possible variations of your domain and check which are registered. Certificate transparency logs reveal when attackers obtain SSL certificates for lookalike domains. Dark web monitoring detects stolen credentials when typosquatting attacks succeed. For comprehensive detection, use a typosquatting checker or continuous monitoring through an attack surface management platform.
Typosquatting & Phishing Domain Resources
Learn how attackers use lookalike domains and how to protect your organization
What Is Typosquatting? Detection & Protection Guide
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Learn MoreExternal Attack Surface Management
Monitor your organization’s external attack surface including typosquatted domains, exposed assets, and brand impersonation threats.
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