Security News Researchers Find 300+ Fake UK Banking Sites

[Bot]

Hackers have registered over 300 domains with names similar to those of several popular British banks, which they use to trick customers into handing over personal details or login data.

According to DomainTools, a company handling domain name and DNS-based cyber threats, 324 such domains were discovered only in relation to banks in the United Kingdom, namely Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyd's and Standard Chartered.

For its discovery, the company used its PhishEye tool which allows users to search for existing bad new domains that spoof legitimate brand, product, organization, or other names.

"Imitation has long been thought to be the sincerest form of flattery, but not when it comes to domains. Domain squatters use squatted domain names to administer and run phishing, drive-by download, or revenu... (read more)

 

[frogboy]

Researchers have discovered over 300 cybersquatting domains masquerading as real UK banking sites, many of which are designed to trick customers into handing over personal details.

DomainTools used its PhishEye tool to search for domains registered by individuals to mimic those of Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyd’s and Standard Chartered.

It found a whopping 324 registered domains abusing the trademarks of these lenders, including lloydstbs[.]com, standardchartered-bank[.]com and barclaysbank-plc[.]co.uk.

“Imitation has long been thought to be the sincerest form of flattery, but not when it comes to domains,” explained DomainTools senior security researcher, Kyle Wilhoit. “While domain squatters of the past were mostly trying to profit from the domain itself, these days they’re often sophisticated cyber-criminals using the spoofed domain names for more malicious endeavors.”

Cybersquatting can be used for a variety of ends, including redirecting the user to pay-per-click ads for the victim company’s competitors; for-profit survey sites, or ransomware and other forms of drive-by malware.

Full Article. Researchers Find 300+ Fake UK Banking Sites

 

[Winter Soldier]

I think if you have an online banking account, it is always better to directly type the correct bank's URL in the browser to avoid any problems.

 

[shmu26]

If you use a password manager, you will know right away if it is a fake site. You will find that you have zero matching passwords.