Chicago IT Support & Cyber Security | Forward Technologies

Chicago-based Forward Technologies delivers IT support and cyber security to businesses in the Chicago area and nationwide.

  • Home
  • Services
    • Outsourced IT Support
    • DMARC Email Security
    • Development
      • CustomView: Display Reviews Your Way for Google Reviews Plugin for WordPress
      • Web Development & Facelifts
    • Data Recovery Service
    • PPC Marketing Services
    • SEO Services
  • Email Security
    • SPF Basics
    • DKIM Basics
    • DMARC Basics
    • Email Security Consulting
  • Data Recovery Service
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Homoglyph Phishing: When One Letter Steals Everything

July 7, 2025 by Edward Silha

A user clicking an email link, leading to two identical websites—one real, one fake—split like a mirror.You click a link. It takes you to a site that looks exactly right. The logo matches, the name checks out, and everything feels familiar. But something’s off. And before you realize what it is, you’ve handed over your login, your credit card, or worse, your network credentials. The trick wasn’t in the layout or the content. It was in the letters.

Cybercriminals are using homoglyphs—lookalike characters from other alphabets—to build fake domains that mimic real ones down to the pixel. A Cyrillic “а” is nearly identical to the Latin “a” your eyes expect to see. To a browser, they’re completely different. To a person, they’re the same. That’s the whole con. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Cybersecurity, Tech In General Tagged With: brand impersonation, browser security, credential theft, cybersecurity threats, Cyrillic characters, DNS manipulation, domain impersonation, domain spoofing, homoglyph attacks, homoglyph phishing, PayPal phishing, phishing, phishing scams, spoofed domains, Unicode attacks, unicode security

DMARC in 2025: What’s Working, What’s Failing, and What Comes Next

June 12, 2025 by Edward Silha

Visual representation of email authentication flow highlighting DMARC enforcement and policy alignmentEmail authentication continues to improve, but DMARC is still widely misunderstood and often misused. The number of domains publishing DMARC records has grown steadily since 2023, especially in industries like finance, education, and healthcare. However, a large percentage of those domains are not enforcing any policy, which means spoofing and phishing attacks are still a serious concern.

Adoption is up, but enforcement remains low. Estimates show that while more than 30 percent of domains have added DMARC over the past two years, fewer than a third are using policies like quarantine or reject. Most records are set to “none,” which enables monitoring but provides no actual protection against domain impersonation. It’s a good first step, but without enforcement, DMARC doesn’t prevent malicious email from being delivered. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Cybersecurity Tagged With: cybersecurity 2025, DKIM, DMARC, DNS configuration, domain spoofing, email authentication, email security, Forward Technologies, phishing protection, secure email, SPF

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • GitHub
  • LinkedIn
  • Periscope
  • Twitter

Forward Technologies
747 N LaSalle
STE 500B
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 715-7806

Copyright © 2025 — Forward Technologies • All rights reserved. • Privacy Policy •