URL hijacking is another name for typosquatting: registering domains that differ from a well-known brand’s address only by a typing mistake or a small variation. This entry covers that security meaning of the term. It is unrelated to hijacking domains by taking over a registrar account.
How does it work?
Wikipedia lists common techniques: misspellings, pluralized forms of a name, a different top-level domain, and country-code domains such as .cm or .co. Motives include phishing, malware distribution, advertising revenue, redirecting visitors to competitors and selling the domain back to the brand owner.
What can brands do?
WIPO offers the UDRP procedure for disputes over such domains. In the United States, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d) covers cyberpiracy prevention; it was added in 1999 by the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Google’s spam policies describe scam and fraud as including impersonating an official business or service through imposter sites. The policy does not explicitly name lookalike domains. Google says it uses automated systems to identify such pages and keep them out of Search, and it accepts reports through a search quality user report.
Brands can also watch for newly registered domains that resemble their own name.
This is not legal advice.
Example
A shop at examplestore.com is imitated by examplestor.com and examplestore.co. Visitors who mistype the address land on a page that asks for login details.
Sources
- Spam policies for Google web search – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Typosquatting – Wikipedia (supplementary)en.wikipedia.org
- Basics of typosquatting and URL hijacking – Klemchuk (supplementary)klemchuk.com
- Domain Name Disputes (UDRP) – WIPOwipo.int
- 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (d) Cyberpiracy prevention – govinfo.govgovinfo.gov
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