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Soundsquatting: Uncovering the use of homophones in domain squatting

  • TrendMicro
  • KU Leuven

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper we present soundsquatting, a previously unreported type of domain squatting which we uncovered during analysis of cybersquatting domains. In soundsquatting, an attacker takes advantage of homophones, i.e., words that sound alike, and registers homophoneincluding variants of popular domain names.We explain why soundsquatting is different from existing domain-squatting attacks, and describe a tool for the automatic generation of soundsquatting domains. Using our tool, we discover that attackers are already aware of the principles of soundsquatting and are monetizing them in various unethical and illegal ways. In addition, we register our own soundsquatting domains and study the population of users who reach our monitors, recording a monthly average of more than 1, 700 non-bot page requests. Lastly, we show how sounddependent users are particularly vulnerable to soundsquatting through the abuse of text-to-speech software.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInformation Security - 17th International Conference, ISC 2014, Proceedings
EditorsSherman S.M. Chow, Jan Camenisch, Lucas C.K. Hui, Siu Ming Yiu
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages291-308
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9783319132563
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume8783
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

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