{
  "id": 13384357,
  "title": "Two characters open up a world of typosquatting opportunities in Chromium browsers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/10/two-characters-open-up-a-world-of-typosquatting-opportunities-in",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-10T10:15:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register Science",
    "slug": "the-register-science",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/10/two-characters-open-up-a-world-of-typosquatting-opportunities-in-chromium-browsers/5302383"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Two characters can be exploited by typosquatters and phishers to deceive Chromium browsers. These characters, ө and ƙ, mimic common letters e/o, i, and k, respectively. This makes them ideal for generating lookalike URLs that appear genuine but lead to fraudulent websites. Researchers Ian Muscat and Leanne Briffa of Have I Been Squatted discovered that ө, found in Cyrillic languages like Kazakh, Mongolian, and Tatar, and the Latin K with hook, ƙ, used in Hausa and Karai-karai, are two such characters that can easily deceive users. By registering domain names using these characters, imposters can successfully register 20 lookalike URLs, such as aррӏө.com, sрасөх.com, oƙta.com, and niƙe.com. These sites are safe to visit but take users to demo pages that detail how the deception works. Chromium's defense measures include two main checks: the SafeToDisplayAsUnicode function and the GetSimilarTopDomain() function. The first check involves seven sequential tests that determine if a domain name is legitimate, while the second compares the domain name against a list of popular websites. However, characters such as ө, ї, and ү can bypass these checks, allowing attackers to create convincing imitations. To counteract these tactics, browsers display warnings when users suspect a site is fraudulent. These warnings only activate for exact or minor changes to the original URL, leaving more significant alterations undetected.",
  "summary": "Attackers abusing rare Cyrillic and Latin letters to impersonate popular websites",
  "key_points": [
    "Characters ө and ƙ mimic common letters to deceive users",
    "Researchers discover 20 lookalike URLs using these characters",
    "Chromium's defense checks can be bypassed by these deceptive characters"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Register",
        "title": "Two characters open up a world of typosquatting opportunities in Chromium browsers",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/10/two-characters-open-up-a-world-of-typosquatting-opportunities-in-13386454",
        "published": "2026-10-10T10:15:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}