Buzz
Attackers often use misspelled domains to attract users to fraudulent websites, where they can collect user information or trick them into downloading malicious software.
Chrome extension detects Unicode homograph URL attacks
How homograph attacks operate
Over a decade ago, ICANN authorized the registration of internationalized domain names, localized for multiple languages and alphabets, spelled using Unicode characters.
Some of these Unicode characters closely resemble standard Latin characters. This similarity provides an opportunity for attackers to register domains that can deceive users into overlooking the URL string.
For example, users must carefully observe coịnbạse.com to notice the small dots beneath the 'i' and 'a' characters.
Deceiving users with such domains is known as Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) homograph attacks or Unicode attacks. These types of attacks have become increasingly common in recent years.
Some browsers provide better user protection than others
Certain browsers prevent homograph attacks by replacing Unicode characters with Punycode to represent them. For example, instead of displaying the domain as coịnbạse.com, browsers like Edge or Vivaldi will show xn--conbse-zc8b7m.com to highlight the problematic URL.
However, Chrome and Firefox do not display the Punycode version of the URL by default. In Firefox, showing Unicode domains in Punycode requires users to toggle a flag in the about:config section.
Chrome displays Punycode URLs in the title bar instead of the address bar. The Phish.ai extension will assist by showing a red window whenever users attempt to access domains containing Unicode characters.
Error notifications similar to Safe Browsing warnings will appear on-screen and will block users from accessing the website, forcing users to respond and pay attention to the URL.
To download the Phish.AI IDN Protect extension and install it, visit: Download Phish.AI IDN Protect
Additionally, to alert about dangerous URLs, you can use professional antivirus software such as Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) or Avast. Both are antivirus software with proven quality.
In addition to installing utilities to protect your information and devices, readers should also regularly update to the latest browser versions. Recently, Mozilla released Firefox 59.0.2 to address high CPU usage and sound issues on BSD, aiming to optimize the user experience, mitigate lingering errors, and vulnerabilities in the browser.
