Do Not Try This!

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for loss related to visiting the below websites.

Have you ever misspelled gmail.com and accidentally went to gmil.com or hotmial.com instead of hotmail.com/? I don't know how they do it, but it installs some sort of rootkit, trojan, ransomware or other malware that is difficult to remove. Just from visiting and without any interaction. I tried to search the web and have not found anything about it.

If you accidentally make a typo and press enter, visiting the website can destroy your computer! I am not sure if it works with Linux and Mac or it's just Windows.

It is known as domain spoofing and it happens all of the time. It's more common to spoof email domains in a phishing attack, but your scenario happens a lot, too. There used to be (and maybe still is) a lichess.COM as opposed to lichess.ORG spoof. It happens on all makes/models of computers. Don't know if that answers your question, but there you go. @nobledome

I also saw someone postiong about something similar with a website called lichess.com. So if you forget that it's .org.... then they get you. AKA cybersquatting.

That answers only half of my question. The other half is: What type of malware does cyber-squatting or domain spoofing often use?

For example, does it steal personal information by monitoring your activity and passwords, cause your computer to malfunction, show you ads or force you to pay to remove their software?

I usually just reinstall Windows when something like that happens, but I have had malware that affects the BIOS and even reinstalling the operating system does not work to solve the problem.

They can do/use pretty much whatever they want. I find it convenient to either A: search in a browser that remembers my past sites and offers them as options when I type in the URL as well as B: do a Google search for the site name MINUS the .org or .com or .net and Google will usually detect a misspelling and put "did you mean..." Regardless of whether or not they do, one of the first few links in the Google search should be easily recognizable as the site you want. Also, only click on links from sources that you trust. Do not click on links in unsolicited emails and other questionable sources, since they might be spoofing the link.

Hope that helps.

@nobledome