Proofpoint sues Facebook over lookalike domain permissions
Cybersecurity company Proofpoint has filed a lawsuit against Facebook in a bid to continue its phishing awareness training using lookalike domains.
The lawsuit filed this week comes after Facebook attempted to confiscate lookalike domain names that the cybersecurity firm uses for tests, ZDNet reported on Thursday.
Proofpoint’s lawsuit is a countersuit to a Facebook filing from November 2020.
At the centre of the controversy was the use of a UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution) request by Facebook to make domain name registrar Namecheap to hand over several domain names that were lookalikes of Facebook and Instagram brands, said the report.
Some of the domain names that were listed included facbook-login.com, facbook-login.net, instagrarn.org, instagrarn.ai and instagrarn.net.
Proofpoint, in court documents filed on Tuesday, argues that UDRP requests should not be used for domains registered in good faith.
It said that its use of the Facebook and Instagram lookalike domains “has been in good faith and for a legitimate purpose.”
Proofpoint even claimed that its phishing awareness training is not just beneficial for its customers but also for Facebook itself indirectly.
This is because these tests teach people to differentiate between genuine and lookalike domains.
