Typosquatting and internationalized domain name (IDN) abuse: how they work and how to detect and respond.
What is typosquatting
Typosquatting uses domains that look like yours but rely on common typos, swapped letters, or wrong TLDs (e.g. .co instead of .com). Users who mistype or click a bad link land on a malicious site. Attackers use these domains for phishing, malware, or ad revenue. Monitoring for typos and lookalikes at scale is difficult without dedicated tools and domain expertise.
What is IDN and homograph abuse
Internationalized domain names use Unicode characters. Some Unicode characters look almost identical to ASCII letters (e.g. Cyrillic "a" vs Latin "a"). Attackers register domains that look like your brand but use these characters, so the URL appears correct at a glance. Browsers may show the Unicode form, making it hard for users to spot the difference. Detection requires comparing the actual characters in the domain, not just the visual rendering.
How we help
We monitor for typosquatting and IDN homograph variants of your brand and key domains. When we find matches, we assess risk, gather evidence, and support your team in requesting takedown. One prevented incident from a lookalike domain can cover years of protection.