Typosquatting: Meaning and Definition

What is Typosquatting?

Typosquatting is a domain-name registration strategy, whereby a well-known site or mark name is purposefully misspelt or otherwise altered with small errors. These areas are commonly used to contain deceptive materials, fake sites, phishing sites, or unofficial advertisements. Users who accidentally end up on such sites can fall prey to fraud, malware or loss of data. In the case of brands, a brand name becomes an important reputational threat and security risk, as it loses customer confidence and distracts honest traffic. To solve this issue, the usual scope includes constant monitoring of domains, litigation, and enforcement to reclaim or close rogue domains before they cause harm.