Vowel Swap
In the context of domains and cybersecurity, a vowel swap is a type of typosquatting where an attacker registers a domain name that replaces one or more vowels in a legitimate domain name with a different vowel. This manipulation relies on the fact that users may not scrutinize every character in a web address, especially when the overall shape and length of the word remain the same.
The attacker's goal is to create a fraudulent domain that is visually similar and easily confused with the legitimate one. For example, if the legitimate domain is google.com, an attacker could register goagle.com or googele.com. The user may overlook this simple change, particularly when typing quickly or viewing a link on a mobile device.
Once a user is redirected to the fraudulent domain, they are often presented with a fake website designed for malicious purposes, such as phishing, malware distribution, or brand impersonation. This simple yet effective technique is a standard method for attackers to capture web traffic and user trust for fraudulent activities.
ThreatNG helps an organization with vowel swaps by proactively discovering and assessing domains that use this manipulation, providing detailed intelligence to mitigate risk before an attack can cause damage.
External Discovery and Assessment
ThreatNG performs purely external and unauthenticated discovery. This means it looks at your organization's digital presence from an attacker's perspective, without needing internal access. ThreatNG automatically generates and looks for variations that use vowel swaps, such as mycompuny.com or mycompanee.com, which are explicitly categorized as Vowel Swaps / Vowel Substitutions within its Domain Name Permutations capability.
The platform uses this discovery to assess an organization's susceptibility to risks directly related to vowel swaps:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: ThreatNG analyzes parts of a web application accessible from the outside world to identify potential entry points for attackers. A fraudulent domain with a vowel swap could be used to create a fake login page, which would be identified as a potential web application hijack risk.
BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: This score is derived from Domain Intelligence, which includes the Domain Name Permutations capability. This helps identify domains with vowel swaps that could be used in phishing attacks.
Brand Damage Susceptibility: By identifying domains with vowel swaps, ThreatNG can determine potential threats that could be used for brand impersonation and to host malicious content, thus protecting the brand's reputation.
Investigation Modules and Intelligence Repositories
The Domain Intelligence module is the primary tool for detecting threats related to vowel swaps. Within this module, the DNS Intelligence capability specifically detects and groups these manipulations. ThreatNG's platform identifies both available and taken vowel swap permutations, providing the associated IP address and mail record for those that are already registered and potentially in use by malicious actors.
ThreatNG's intelligence repositories, known as DarCache, provide valuable context. For example, DarCache Rupture (Compromised Credentials) can reveal if a fraudulent domain is tied to compromised user data. At the same time, DarCache Dark Web can show if a planned phishing campaign using such a domain is being discussed in dark web forums.
Continuous Monitoring and Reporting
ThreatNG provides continuous monitoring of the external attack surface and digital risk. This ensures that new domains with vowel swaps are detected as soon as they appear, enabling a swift and proactive response to mitigate the impersonation before it causes significant damage. The platform's reports, which can be Executive, Technical, or Prioritized, highlight any discovered domains and their associated risks. The Prioritized reports use risk levels to help organizations focus on the most critical risks and make informed decisions about mitigation.
Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG's proactive intelligence makes it a strong complement to other security solutions. For example, if ThreatNG identifies a newly registered domain with a vowel swap like mycompuny.com and its associated IP address, this information can be used to update a DNS firewall to automatically block internal network traffic from accessing that fraudulent site. Alternatively, if ThreatNG detects that a fraudulent domain has active mail records, this intelligence can be shared with an email security gateway. This allows the gateway to proactively block any emails originating from that domain, preventing a phishing campaign from reaching employees' inboxes before it even begins.
