What is domain hijacking associated with?

Domain hijacking is primarily associated with registering a similar web domain to a legitimate organization. This practice involves acquiring a domain name that closely resembles a legitimate organization's domain, often with the intent to mislead users, impersonate the organization, or exploit the brand for malicious purposes.

By registering a domain with a slight variation or a different domain extension (like .net instead of .com), attackers can take advantage of users’ errors in typing or recognition, leading them to believe they are interacting with the legitimate organization's website. This tactic is commonly used in phishing attacks, where the goal is to gather sensitive information such as login credentials or personal data.

In contrast, ethical domain registration refers to the lawful and responsible practice of securing domain names, while creating fake email domains for phishing, although related to deceptive practices, specifically focuses on email communication rather than domain registration itself. The process of renewing a website domain simply involves maintaining ownership of an already registered domain, which does not relate to hijacking.