A doppelganger domain is a
domain that is spelled identically to a legitimate
fully qualified domain name
A fully qualified domain name (FQDN), sometimes also called an absolute domain name, is a domain name that specifies its exact location in the tree hierarchy of the Domain Name System (DNS). It specifies all domain levels, including the top-level ...
(FQDN) but missing the dot between
host
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
* Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
* Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica
People
* ...
/
subdomain
In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a subdomain is a domain that is a part of another (main) domain. For example, if a domain offered an online store as part of their website it might use the subdomain.
Overview
The Domain Name System ...
and domain, to be used for malicious purposes.
Typosquatting
Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, a sting site, a cousin domain, or a fake URL, is a form of cybersquatting, and possibly brandjacking which relies on mistakes such as typos made by Internet users when inputting a website address into ...
's traditional
attack vector is through the web to distribute
malware
Malware (a portmanteau of ''malicious software'')Tahir, R. (2018)A study on malware and malware detection techniques . ''International Journal of Education and Management Engineering'', ''8''(2), 20. is any software intentionally designed to caus ...
or harvest credentials. Other vectors include email and
remote access services such as Secure Shell (
SSH), Remote Desktop Protocol (
RDP
RDP may refer to:
Computing
* Ramer–Douglas–Peucker algorithm, an algorithm for polygonal simplification
* Recombination detection program, for analysing genetic recombination
* Recursive descent parser, a type of top-down parser
* Remote Desk ...
), and Virtual Private Networks (
VPN
Virtual private network (VPN) is a network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted (as they are not c ...
). In a
whitepaper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...
by Godai Group on doppelganger domains, they demonstrated that numerous emails can be harvested without anyone noticing.
For example, for
email address An email address identifies an email box to which messages are delivered. While early messaging systems used a variety of formats for addressing, today, email addresses follow a set of specific rules originally standardized by the Internet Enginee ...
"ktrout@finance.corpudyne.com", the doppelganger domain would be "financecorpudyne.com"; hence, an
email
Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...
accidentally addressed to "ktrout@financecorpudyne.com" (''i.e.''with the dot between "finance" and "corpudyne" having accidentally been omitted) would go to the doppelganger domain rather than to the legitimate user.
See also
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
*
URL
Network addressing
Cybercrime
Trademark law
Nonstandard spelling
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