Belmont University

Typo Squatting---Watch those URLs when you surf


Mistyped web queries are big business. Typo Squatting is a new term that describes web sites that have names that are similar to popular web sites such as google. These sites use our inability to type to fool web users into
using the wrong web site. The purpose is to make money (i.e. google ads) and also to inject your PC with a virus or trogan to force you to purchase virus protection as one example. Even large corporations such as Microsoft license misspelled sites to generate web traffic. While not illegal it is very frustrating to visit an unintended web site. For novice users they can also be exposed to materials that are not appropriate. So, be sure to read any URL you go to to make sure that www.youtube.com is not www.yuotuhe.com. Its easy to be fooled.
For more information about Typo-squatting go to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typosquatting


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