Would you click on a link that contains Punycode?

#1

Post by adamo » Fri, Jan 08, 2010, 9:52 PM UTC

Would you click on (or type) a link that contains Punycode? Or even on a link that contains localized characters? Example:

http://www.εδετ.gr and http://www.xn--pxabb4d.gr (they are the same site).

Or would you consider them phising "faster" than a latin spelled URL?

(The example I am giving is a legitimate site)

Re: Would you click on a link that contains Punycode?

#2

Post by coliveira » Fri, Jan 08, 2010, 10:21 PM UTC

These sites are created for people speaking a foreign language. So, if you ask to an English speaker they will probably say that it is fishing. For a speaker of the foreign language it will be perfectly natural.

Re: Would you click on a link that contains Punycode?

#3

Post by Manolis » Fri, Jan 08, 2010, 10:53 PM UTC

"Alert! Phishing attempt!" would be my first thought on reading the second URL.

I would click on the first one, though.

Re: Would you click on a link that contains Punycode?

#4

Post by adamo » Sat, Jan 09, 2010, 9:45 AM UTC

Manolis wrote: post #3

"Alert! Phishing attempt!" would be my first thought on reading the second URL. I would click on the first one, though.

You would because you are Greek and understand it. But what if it was Cyrillic or Chinese instead?

Re: Would you click on a link that contains Punycode?

#5

Post by Manolis » Sat, Jan 09, 2010, 2:43 PM UTC

adamo wrote: post #4

Manolis wrote: post #3

"Alert! Phishing attempt!" would be my first thought on reading the second URL. I would click on the first one, though.

You would because you are Greek and understand it. But what if it was Cyrillic or Chinese instead?

A domain in non-english characters communicates that the site has a high chance of being written in a non-english language.

Since I do not understand neither Cyrillic nor Chinese, I would probably not click on any of them.

Except:

1)...If I would really need to click on them (i.e. import some goods from China) in which case I would click on link and visit the site hoping that there is some kind of english description.

2)If I saw the link on Google (i.e. a search engine that I trust) and saw in the excerpt that there is some sort of legitimate description, it would be more likely that I would follow the link.