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Article
| McAfee Security Journal
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fall 2008
Typosquatting: Unintended Adventures in Browsing
by
Benjamin Edelman
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Abstract
"Typosquatting" is the practice of registering domain names, identical to or confusingly similar to trademarks and famous names, in hopes that users will accidentally request these sites—whereupon they will receive, typically, advertisements. This piece presents the basic typosquatting business model, based on my analysis of more than 80,000 typosquatting domain names. I analyze the advertising intermediaries that make typosquatting profitable, and I assess the legislation and litigation that are beginning to put a check on this practice.
Keywords: Web;
Advertising;
Business Model;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Profit;
Practice;
Citation:
Edelman, Benjamin. "Typosquatting: Unintended Adventures in Browsing." Cybercrime Gets Personal McAfee Security Journal (fall 2008): 34–37.