Web Design & Development Guide
Website spoofing
Website spoofing is the act of creating a website, as a hoax, with the intention of misleading readers that the website has been created by a different person or organisation. Normally, the website will adopt the design of the target website and sometimes has a similar URL.[1]
Another technique is to use a 'cloaked' URL. By using domain forwarding, or inserting control characters, the URL can appear to be genuine while concealing the address of the actual website.[2]
The objective may be fraudulent, often associated with phishing or e-mail spoofing, or to criticize or make fun of the person or body whose website the spoofed site purports to represent.[3]
As an example of the use of this technique to parody an organization, in November 2006 two spoof websites were produced claiming that Microsoft had bought Firefox and released Microsoft Firefox 2007.[4]
References
- ^ "Spoof website will stay online", BBC News, 29 July 2004
- ^ Anti-Phishing Technology", Aaron Emigh, Radix Labs, 19 January 2005
- ^ "How to recognize spoofed Web sites", Microsoft, 26 October 2006
- ^ " Fake Sites Insist Microsoft Bought Firefox ", Gregg Keizer, Information Week, 9 November 2006