As its name suggests, the idea of this tool is pretty straightforward – DNSTWIST will help you in finding alternative domain names that are based on the name of your original domain.

If you are into Cybersecurity, especially Social Engineering which includes Phishing emails, then this kind of tool is a must-have because you will be able to find domains that almost look like your original domain and have the potential to become a Phishing landing page for the bad guys.

Disclaimer: The usage of any information or materials in this course is entirely at your own risk, for which me (Tino Sokic) or we (Cybrary) shall not be liable.

Prerequisites

Cybersecurity terminology, for an example Phishing

How DNS works and the domain hierarchy

Linux terminal usage

Basic Python understanding and programming

Course Goals

After this course, you are expected to have an understanding of how this tool works and how to use it to find phishing sites based on the domain of your interest.

What is DNSTWIST?

Essentially, DNSTWIST is a Python script which is designed to help you in your domain security. The tool was developed by Mr. Marcin Ulikowski and the beauty of this tool is in its simplicity and usefulness. It takes a domain of your choosing and then via various algorithms it generates domain names which could potentially be used for phishing, corporate espionage, typosquatting, different DNS attacks or simple house fun, but with serious repercussions which are always a possibility.

Why Should I Care about DNSTWIST?

There are a handful of reasons why you should care about domain names or for a tool like DNSTWIST in general, especially if you are in the Cyber Security profession and community. In my opinion, some of the reasons are:

Knowledge: If you like to learn new and exciting things and you are already involved with Cyber Security then you are on the right track. The thing is when you use a tool like this, you also will additionally learn about Linux and Python language and that is the real value. Expand your expertise and advance your Cyber Security career with the usage of DNSTWIST.

Protection: Learn to protect yourself and your organisation because DNSTWIST helps you find Phishing sites based on your domain. Also, it can help you with different domain attacks like Typosquatting which is consisted of Bitsquatting, Homoglyph, Repetition, Replacement and many more.

* Fun: Here is where you come to play and you have a chance to enhance the overall cybersecurity posture of your company or an organisation, and have fun along the way.