Protecting Your Website from Spoofing: Essential Tips for Safeguarding Your Online Reputation

When setting up your business website, you’re probably focused on how it will grow your audience^[1] — not how someone else could copy or “spoof” it for malicious purposes. Amidst other evolving ransomware threats^[2], understanding what website spoofing is and how to protect your customers from imposters is an essential consideration for your business.

Website spoofing is a type of online scam^[3] in which cyber criminals create a fake website that looks similar to your website. These websites may use stolen logos, color schemes, or other assets to look as close to the legitimate website as possible. They’ll also usually use a similar domain name to the real site, such as a common misspelling.

Spoofed websites trick customers or employees^[4] into entering their login credentials or other personal information. For example, a customer might enter their credit card number when attempting to purchase on the spoofed site. Cybercriminals could steal that information and use it to make fraudulent purchases.

Even though your business isn’t responsible for spoofed websites, such incidents can still hurt your brand’s reputation. Customers whose information was stolen could leave a negative review that drives away business.

These incidents could also result in lost business when customers attempt to purchase on the fake website instead of your legitimate site. Stopping spoofed websites is crucial for protecting your reputation, customers, and bottom line.

SSL certificates^[5] serve two key purposes: providing an encrypted connection that protects any user data that might be submitted and providing proof of authenticity for a website. This is easily seen when a website uses “https” instead of just “http” in its URL.

Spoofed websites don’t use SSL certificates because their entire goal is to steal customer information – but unfortunately, many legitimate businesses (particularly smaller companies) also don’t use SSL certificates. This can cause customers to distrust your website and be more easily fooled by scammers.

Getting an SSL certificate for your website will protect customers’ login credentials, credit card information, and more. More importantly, a quick check for this certification can easily alert customers when dealing with a spoofed site.

The good news is that software options are now specifically designed to automatically monitor for and counteract website spoofing. For example, in a case study^[6] from Memcyco, a bank struggling with fake websites implemented a real-time website impersonation protection solution that provided a pop-up alert when customers visited a fraudulent website. The software also provided real-time alerts to the bank.

Early detection of website spoofing helped protect the bank’s reputation and customer retention by warning them of fraudulent websites. By implementing this solution, the bank was subsequently able to reduce expenses related to damage control and user reimbursement incurred due to the fake websites.

Other automated solutions include domain takedown services that remove spoofed websites, incorporating digital brand watermarks that act as a seal of authenticity, and adding code to help identify when someone is trying to spoof your website content.

Another practice that can help limit the risk of website spoofing is purchasing domains similar to your actual, legitimate domain and then having those domains redirect to your real website. For example, typing “nontendo.com” into your browser will redirect you to the legitimate Nintendo website (nintendo.com).

Ensure your organization considers possible misspellings and purchases those domain names if possible. You can make it harder for cyber criminals to spoof your website by owning and directing these domains to your website.

Internet users average 39 mistakes per 100 words^[7] they type on social media and 13.5 mistakes per 100 words when writing emails. Simply purchasing domains for common misspellings can make a big difference for your customers.

A website is probably the most important aspect of your business’s online presence. The last thing you want is cybercriminals to create a fake site that fools your customers to steal their information and reduce your revenue. By taking actionable steps to counteract website spoofing, you can stop imposters in their tracks and protect your online reputation.