An employee in a financial institution accidentally visited a website by mistyping the URL of a popular financial news portal. Subsequently, the employee reported that their workstation displayed unusual behavior, such as the browser opening on its own and displaying advertisements. The IT security team suspects a security incident through domain impersonation. What is the likely method used by the threat actor to compromise the employee's workstation?
Typosquatting relies on users making mistakes while typing a URL, leading them to land on a malicious site that mimics a legitimate one. Once the user visits the fake website, the threat actor can execute various malicious activities including malware infection. Incorrect spelling variants in URLs are a hallmark of this technique, therefore, visiting a website with a misspelled URL that resulted in these symptoms indicates a typosquatting attack. Misdirecting and phishing attempts, while also deceptive, typically involve more direct interaction, such as fake emails or links, not the accidental misspelling of a URL. Similarly, domain kiting and domain slamming are related to domain registration practices, not user typos.
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