Bitsquatting is a form of
cybersquatting
Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting) is the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.
The term is derived f ...
which relies on bit-flip errors that occur during the process of making a
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to ...
request. These bit-flips may occur due to factors such as faulty hardware or
cosmic rays
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...
. When such an error occurs, the user requesting the domain may be directed to a website registered under a
domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
similar to a legitimate domain, except with one bit flipped in their respective binary representations.
A 2011
Black Hat
Black hat, blackhats, or black-hat refers to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Black hat (computer security), a hacker who violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain
* Black hat, part of black and white ...
paper detailed an analysis where eight legitimate domains were targeted with thirty one bitsquat domains. Over the course of about seven months, 52,317 requests were made to the bitsquat domains.
References
{{Internet-stub
Domain Name System
Types of cyberattacks
Network addressing
URL