Proofpoint Sues Facebook Over Use Of Lookalike Domains
‘By using domain names similar to those of well-known companies, Proofpoint is able to execute a more effective [security awareness] training program,’ Proofpoint writes in a complaint filed against Facebook. By Michael Novinson February 11, 2021, 04:53 PM EST
Proofpoint has sued Facebook seeking permission to keep using domain names that look like Facebook and Instagram as part of its security awareness training exercises.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based email security vendor was hit Jan. 25 with a decision from an arbitrator ordering the transfer of five lookalike domain names from Proofpoint to Facebook within ten business days. The decision came in response to a complaint Facebook filed Nov. 30 with an administrative body, where the social media giant alleged that Proofpoint registered and used the domain names in bad faith.
instagrarn.org.
The company s complaint [PDF], filed in US District Court in Arizona on Tuesday, explains its rationale for doing so: By using domain names similar to those of well-known companies, Proofpoint is able to execute a more effective training program because the workforce is more likely to learn to distinguish typo-squatted domains, which are commonly abused by bad actors to trick workers, from legitimate domain names.
Proofpoint claims such tests help protect both the employer providing the training and the owners of legitimate domain names, like Facebook and Instagram. Nope, ICANN rules
Facebook however isn t on-board with that line of reasoning. Last November, the social ad biz filed a complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), a set of rules established by internet overseer ICANN to help resolve domain name disagreements without sending every dispute to court.
Share this article
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ The APWG s new
Phishing Activity Trends Report reveals that the number of phishing attacks observed by APWG members grew through 2020, fully doubling over the course of the year. Attacks peaked in October 2020, with a high of 225,304 new phishing sites appearing in that month alone, breaking all previous monthly records.
APWG REPORT: Phishing Attacks Double in 2020 and October Shatters All-Time Monthly Records
In Brazil, security firm Axur saw a slower growth in the number of phishing attacks that targeted Brazilian companies and consumers in Brazil. But overall, Axur observed almost twice as many such phishing sites in 2020 as it did in 2019, a concerning year-over-year growth.