Andrew Mollenbeck, wtop.com
WASHINGTON — A school teacher’s warning has become a digital age reminder: spelling counts.
When punching in a web address, a single typo can result in hackers hijacking the system.
Computer criminals have developed look-alike sites to popular retailers. When a shopper misses a keystroke or confuses a “.com” with a “.net,” he or she may be redirected to a scammer page that looks identical.
The security firm Websense Inc. has identified as many as 2,000 of these so-called typosquatters, the Arizona Republic reports.
The fake domains have also increased leading up to the holidays.
Websense says hackers use the illegitimate sites to launch computer attacks and initiate online scams.
Those attacks can include stealing passwords and personal information, such as banking records.
The newspaper notes that a single typo while online shopping can “turn the holiday into a techno-disaster.”
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