Enterprises vulnerable to look-alike domains

According to a new report, 80 percent of registered web domains that resemble a Global 2000 brand do not actually belong to that brand.

The report from enterprise-class domain registrar CSC shows that of the homoglyph (look-alike fake) domains owned by third parties other than the Global 2000 brand owners, 42 percent have MX records (email exchange records) compared with 40 percent in 2023. These MX records can be used to send phishing emails or to intercept email.

"Many wide-scale cyberattacks like ransomware, phishing, and data breaches can originate at the domain level through fraudulently registered or exploited legitimate domains," says Jim Stoltzfus, president of CSC's Digital Brand Services. "The severe rise in malicious attacks against healthcare systems and other critical infrastructure this year is a clear indication for all industries to carefully monitor domain activity and registrations, and to pay much more attention to dormant domains, which may be maliciously registered but not put to use until a cyberattack is launched."

Use of Registry Lock, a cost-effective means of protecting domain names against accidental or unauthorized modifications or deletions, has grown seven percent since 2020, but overall adoption is still low at 24 percent.

The report also shows that five percent of Forbes Global 2000 companies do not deploy any of the recommended domain security measures and therefore have the highest level of risk. However, use of DMARC to protect email domains has grown by 82 percent since 2020.

As an example of how lax domain security can impact brands and consumers, CSC observed a surge in fake Olympic and Paris-related domain name registrations coinciding with the start and end of the 2024 Games. These domains were used to promote counterfeit items, fake tickets, fraudulent streaming sites and phishing attacks.

The full report is available from the CSC site.

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