In Ekaru’s previous blog, we went over how typos can unexpectedly lead you to mimicked websites designed by hackers to steal your personal information. But what if I told you that on top of having to be hyper vigilant of spelling, you also need to check a URL’s characters if all letters are from the same font?
Tricks hackers use to scam unsuspecting individuals usually consist of spam texts, phishing emails impersonating reputable companies, scams claiming you owe a specific amount of money, creating a sense of urgency - all are attempts to fatigue you and steal your information. For some, these tricks have become easy to spot due to recognizing the signs from their intensive cybersecurity awareness training. However, bad actors use evolving technology and strategies to improve their game and become harder and harder to detect.
One of their strategies to become harder to detect, is the usage of visuals in random letters from different fonts. This is a term we call Internalized Domain Name (IDN) Homograph attack.
Technology Advisor Blog
Tags: phishing, Monitoring, technology, small business technology, small business technology advice., Cybersecurity, email scams, cybersecurity, DNS Protection, Homograph Attack
When Cybersecurity Feels Annoying: The Role of Web Filtering and DNS Protection
Posted by Ann Westerheim on 8/12/24 5:00 PM
Maybe you can relate to this: Your local business finally takes the plunge and starts getting serious about cybersecurity and suddenly things feel like they just got a lot harder for you. It’s the end of a long workday, and you go online to search for your favorite whiskey you want to enjoy over the weekend, and a security warning pops up that the site is blocked by your security. The website may be blocked because it falls into the broad category of “drugs and alcohol” but you’re not looking to abuse any substances, you’re just looking forward to enjoying a class of fine whiskey.
Read MoreTags: cybersecurity, cybersecurity training, DNS Protection, Web Filtering