Cybercriminals can use multiple strategies to steal information, to compromise our computers and make systems work less than best. Among all the options they have, one type of attack that has grown a lot in recent times is the spoofing of websites. It is something that affects many organizations. Therefore, it is essential to recognize when a page can be false .
Fake domains to attack users
Through a fake domain, an attacker could put users’ security at risk. It can be used to send malware, carry out a Phishing attack and steal passwords, as well as impersonating a company’s image and damaging its image to customers.
A report by Digital Shadows has shown that their clients face more than 1,000 domain spoofs every year. Without a doubt, a more than significant figure that shows us how this is something widely used by hackers to achieve their objectives and compromise privacy and security.
But it does not affect everyone equally. According to this same report, financial services are the most affected sector. They represent 20% of all website spoofing attempts. Ultimately, cybercriminals seek to steal bank accounts and divert payments. It is a problem to be taken into account.
Other widely used sectors are food, technology, insurance and healthcare. The goal is always going to be similar: steal information, deliver malware, cause users to inadvertently log in and submit passwords, etc.
Typically what hackers do is create a domain with a name similar to the legitimate one . In this way, they make the victim believe that they are facing something official, but in reality it is a threat. They usually include the real logo of that organization and give a very similar appearance to the official website.
Detecting fake pages is very important
All this that we mentioned makes it vital to detect the possible fraudulent web pages that we face. It is essential to know when we are faced with a URL that has been created simply to steal our passwords and never expose the data.
What can we do to identify fake sites? It is similar to what we could do to recognize fake emails. The first thing will be to observe very well the address of the domain . They usually change a letter or number to make it look like it is the official one. You also have to look at the extension, as that could give us clues.
But without a doubt something very important is going to be the general appearance of that site. We can usually detect threats just by looking at a page. Although they try to trace the content, they usually leave clues that indicate that it really is a threat.
This will help prevent the entry of malware. The best thing to identify if a website is legitimate or not is common sense, the visual aspect. However, there are also tools that can analyze an address and launch an alert that it is a site that may contain malware or be used for Phishing.