Challenges and Threats of Domain Impersonation
Cybercriminals use domain impersonation for financial gain or sensitive data. This method of impersonation is gaining traction. According to Fortra’s 2023 Domain Impersonation Report, the average brand is targeted by 40 look-alike domains per month. Add this threat on top of the resource issues plaguing organizations and it’s no wonder impersonations can be difficult to stop.
The two common types of domain impersonation are look-alike domains and email spoofing.
Look-alike domains are domains nearly identical, or confusingly similar, but slightly altered and registered with intent to deceive.
Email domain spoofing is one of the most common forms of cybercriminal activity and used in phishing and spam attacks. It doesn’t require a registered domain as it is a forgery of an email sender address.
Domain Impersonation Protection Products
DMARC protection for email authentication
Another way to combat impersonation is to implement DMARC reject on your email domains. When a cybercriminal uses your domain for email threats, they can mislead an organization’s customers causing long-term damage to the organization’s brand and customer trust.
DMARC is an essential email authentication protocol that enables administrators to prevent hackers from hijacking domains for email spoofing, executive impersonation, and spear phishing. But email is complicated and getting email authentication correct is critical in blocking only the spoofed emails.
