Internet users should aim to avoid typosquatter websites where possible, it has been claimed.
Paul Ducklin, of security firm Sophos, explained that some typosquatter domain names link through to websites containing malware and other online risks.
The majority of the 14,495 sites studied by the firm carried no immediate risks – but five per cent, or 738 domain names, were categorized as risky.
As such, web users need to have their wits about them when typing web addresses into the URL bar in their browser.
“Of course, even if you take technological precautions, it is almost inevitable that you will end up on an unintended website from time to time,” Mr. Ducklin stated,
“That’s because the scale of the typosquatting industry is just so large: over 80 per cent of all possible one-character variants of the domains of Facebook, Google and Apple are both registered and resolved.”
He advised that if web users find themselves somewhere they did not intend due to mistyping a domain name, they should avoid following further links on the web page.
At the very best, typosquats which lead to parked domains are just aiming to make money out of nothing, by capitalising on consumer errors, Mr. Ducklin said.