About this interactive
What you are doing: naming the trick from how it works.
Typosquatting: the attacker registers a domain one typo away from a real one, so a mistyped or misread address lands on their copy. URL obfuscation: the link itself hides its destination, with a trusted name placed before an @ sign (the user part) or the real IP address written in hexadecimal or octal. Domain shadowing: the attacker has control of a legitimate domain’s DNS and quietly adds their own records under it, so their servers sit behind a real, trusted domain name. 302 cushioning: the web server answers a request with an HTTP 302 temporary redirect that sends the browser on to a malicious page, while the user believes they are still on the original site.
How to use it: ask what the attacker owns or changed. A lookalike domain they registered; the way the link is written; records inside someone else’s DNS; or the server’s redirect response.
What you'll learn
- Tell apart four ways a link or a site deceives a user: typosquatting, URL obfuscation, domain shadowing and HTTP 302 cushioning, by what the attacker controls or changes
Aligned to
CompTIA Security+
2.2
Explain common threat vectors and attack surfaces.
CompTIA PenTest+
4.8
Given a scenario, perform social engineering attacks using the appropriate tools.
Key terms
- Typosquatting
- A form of impersonation that registers misspelled or look-alike domain names to deceive users into visiting fraudulent websites.
- URL Obfuscation
- A technique that disguises a URL's true destination by encoding the target address using methods such as hexadecimal, octal, or username-field embedding to deceive users.
- Domain Shadowing
- An attack technique in which a threat actor compromises a legitimate domain's DNS infrastructure to create stealthy subdomains or records that redirect traffic to malicious resources while evading detection.
- 302 Cushioning Attack
- An attack that exploits HTTP 302 temporary redirect responses to silently redirect users from a legitimate site to a malicious one without their knowledge.
- Domain Name System
DNS
- A hierarchical naming system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses.
Topics
Typosquatting
Url Obfuscation
Domain Shadowing
302 Cushioning Attack
Interactive
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