New research by Proofpoint shows that over 3 in 4 firms have found fraudulent domains impersonating their company and a whopping 96% have discovered domains using their exact brand name, but a different top-level domain (TLD), i.e. examplebusiness.net instead of examplebusiness.com.
According to Kevin Epstein of Proofpoint, fraudulent domains represent “a huge brand problem, both from a direct revenue standpoint and indirect loss standpoint.” Fraudulent domains may be empty websites or relatively benign pages serving adds to users that accidentally enter a wrong URL in their browser. However, they can also be phishing sites that have been made to look just like the real thing in order to trick visitors into submitting login credentials, payment card data and other sensitive information to the threat actors behind the domain.
Read more: How Fraudulent Domains ‘Hide in Plain Sight’