According to a recent paper published at the 2024 Web Conference, so-called “phantom domains” make it possible for malicious actors to hijack hyperlinks and exploit users’ trust in familiar websites.
The research defines phantom domains as active links to dot-com domains that have never been registered.
Here’s what enterprises need to know about how phantom domains emerge, the potential risks they represent and what they can do to disrupt phantom attacks. There are two common types of phantom domains: Errors and placeholders.
Domain errors
Errors occur when web developers or administrators make mistakes, such as misspelling the intended domain destination. The result is a link that looks legitimate but instead goes nowhere.
Consider the example of a fictional sporting goods store, Bob’s Sports Gear. As expected, Bob’s website is www.bobssportsgear.com. Links on the company’s website should point to subdomains of this top-level domain, such as /products, /about or /contact. A simple mistake, however, can create a phantom domain.
With Bob’s under a time crunch to complete their new website, one (or more) links on the homepage are entered as www.bobsportsgear.com. It’s a simple error — all that’s missing is the second “s” in the domain name. Because the mistake is so close to the actual site name, it’s easy for these errors to go unnoticed for weeks or months.
Placeholder domains
Developers may also use placeholder domains for links. Placeholder links may point to domains that aren’t live yet but are part of a larger web project. If the project isn’t completed and the links aren’t removed, they remain active but effectively u ..
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