Domain Research Suite Keeps Track of Nefarious Activities Around Your Domains
Domain infringement has become a real concern for businesses operating online. While new web technologies made it easy for brands to engage with customers, progress has also opened the door to a variety of cyber risks and attacks known as domain threats.
What Are Domain Name Threats?
Domain threats refer to situations where domain names are used as an accessory to cyberattacks. A prime example where domains can become a threat is phishing. Cybercriminals often register close variations of well-known domain names as part of attempts to engage with victims and trick them into taking damaging actions. Mass registration for malicious ends is also a form of cybersquatting.
What Is Domain Name Abuse?
Domain name abuse (or domain abuse) is partially linked to domain threats as it refers to the many ways in which legitimate domain holders may suffer the consequences of the wrongful acts committed by third parties. “Third parties” in this case means both cybercriminals as well as other individuals and organizations acting in bad faith to tarnish or take advantage of someone else’s reputation.
Instances of domain abuse are therefore multiple. Here are some prevalent ones:
- Typoed versions of an e-commerce site used by a competitor to confuse visitors and possibly steal away revenue
- Copycat websites of banks, government agencies, and reputable organizations where users feel safe to use their credentials and credit card details
- Spoofed email addresses used by cybercriminals to incite recipients to click dangerous URLs and download malicious files
- Squatting of domain names that overlap or interfere with the rights of trademark holders
- Parking of domains that are no longer in use but still drive traffic in order to serve malicious ads
What Is Domain Name Intelligence? How Does It Help?
Domain name intelligence, or simply domain intelligence, refers to the collection and analysis of domain and traffic data for purposes such as risk mitigation, threat detection and response, and cybersecurity investigations.
Domain data includes an individual or organization’s domain name, registrant, contact details, and other details from WHOIS records. This information is useful when determining who owns a domain that is tied to an email sender, for example. It can be used to check if the email sender is actually part of the organization the person is representing or if he or she’s just a phisher.
Traffic data, meanwhile, refers to information on a website’s or network’s visitors. This information is collated in server or system logs. With it, website owners can check if their visitors are malicious or not.
Additionally, domain intelligence can be compared with publicly available lists of threat indicators. Any domains or site URLs that figure in both your domain intelligence and well-known blacklists can then be blocked from accessing your network to make sure it remains threat-free.
What Are the Key Benefits of Domain Name Intelligence?
With domain intelligence, users can:
- Uncover trademark violations against their brands and protect intellectual property
- Steer clear of penalties, compliance issues, and lawsuits that stem from domain misuse and abuse
- Assess risks by verifying the nature of site visitors based on their domain’s reputation
- Prevent customer information and identity theft
- Stop income losses from lost website traffic and brand impersonation
- Block unwanted visitors from gaining access to virtual properties
- Enrich overall threat detection and management with as much intelligence as possible for security information and event management (SIEM); security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR); and user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) solution enhancement
Which Solutions Can Help?
Domain Research Suite offers users a collection of research and monitoring tools to protect every facet of their domain infrastructure. It also allows keeping an eye out on a list of potential phishing sites and cybersquatters, among other capabilities.
Brand Monitor, in particular, has a typos feature that automatically generates a list of your domain’s variations. Adding these to your daily monitor can readily alert you to domains that may be infringing on your ownership rights.
Domain Monitor allows finding out about any changes made in monitored domain’s WHOIS records with instant alerts for both new and old registrations.
Other products of the Domain Research Suite include: