Strider Typo-Patrol: Discovery and Analysis of Systematic Typo-Squatting

Typo-squatting refers to the practice of registering domain names that are typo variations of popular websites. We propose a new approach, called Strider Typo-Patrol, to discovering large-scale, systematic typo-squatters. We show that a large number of typo-squatting domains are active and a large percentage of them are parked with a handful of major domain parking services, which serve syndicated advertisements on these domains. In particular, we investigate the questionable practice of serving adult advertisements on typos of children’s websites. We also describe the Strider URL Tracer, a tool that we have developed to allow parents to protect their children’s web browsing activities and to allow website owners to systematically monitor typo-squatting activities against their websites.